Phone fix to boost
all isle bills

By Rob Perez
Star-Bulletin

GTE Hawaiian Tel customers statewide will shoulder the full cost of converting party lines in rural areas to single-line service, according to a decision by the Public Utilities Commission.

Customers statewide have been paying a 62-cents-a-month surcharge to cover half the cost of the $20.2 million upgrade, and affected rural customers have had to pay up to $10,000 each to cover the other half.

But because rural customers -- mostly on the Big Island -- have been slow to request the new service, mainly because of the high cost, GTE asked the commission to shift the full burden to customers statewide.

The commission late yesterday agreed and authorized the company to include those costs in a pending request to rebalance rates statewide.

GTE had sought to recover the costs by extending the surcharge for three more years -- it is set to expire next year -- and reducing the amount to 61 cents.

But the commission decided to treat the upgrade like other major construction projects, which are paid for through rate increases over a period of years.

Because the $10 million cost will be paid over a long period by all the utility's customers, the effect on individual bills will be much less than the 61 cent surcharge that GTE proposed, said PUC executive Milton Higa.

Customers won't see that additional charge for quite some time. A decision on the overall case for the rate rebalancing is months away. Rural customers who already have paid for the upgrades will be getting refunds.

Both state and federal regulations stipulate that single lines are part of basic phone service.