Qwest can raise the price on basic home phone service from $14.88 a month to $16.52 under a verbal order issued today by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
The PUC also set a cap at $17 a month, before taxes and fees, allowing Qwest to raise the rate to that price a year from now. The Denver-based company had sought to hike the price on stand-alone landline service to $16.99, with a cap of $18.25.
A written order will be issued by Aug. 3, at which point appeals can be filed.
Qwest can immediately file to charge the higher rate, which will be its first price hike on basic service in 14 years. The company must give customers 30 days’ notice before making the change.
The new rates will impact about half of Qwest’s landline customers in Colorado, or roughly 500,000 homes. Customers who have a bundle of services with Qwest, or a package of features with their phone line, will not be affected.
“If Qwest raises its residential rate to the cap, the increase will equal the 11 percent increase in national average prices since 1995, when the Colorado legislature froze basic residential rates at $14.88,” the PUC said in a prepared statement.
Colorado lawmakers passed a bill last year that included a provision to allow Qwest to seek a rate increase.
“Qwest has not raised rates for a basic, no-features residential phone line in 14 years, even though prices for normal consumer goods and services have risen over that time, along with the costs to provide them,” said Qwest spokeswoman Johnna Hoff. “We continue to advocate that pricing should be driven by market conditions.”
The state Office of Consumer Counsel and PUC staff had urged PUC commissioners to deny Qwest’s request to raise rates, arguing that the cost of providing basic phone service hadn’t increased.
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
