PUC Trims Fees on Local Toll Calls on Pacific Bell

The California Public Utilities Commission ordered cuts Friday of up to 32% in the prices Pacific Bell charges for local toll calls. But the commission also boosted the utility’s basic monthly residential service charge by 10 cents, to $8.35.

The moves are part of a large-scale overhaul of Pacific Bell’s rates that the PUC expects to complete later this year.

For local toll calls, the biggest rate reductions ordered Friday were for the longest calls. Cuts of 32% will apply to five-minute toll calls covering more than 71 miles but within a Pacific Bell customer’s local service area. (Calls between service areas are carried by such long-distance telephone companies as AT&T;, MCI and US Sprint.)

On a five-minute call from Tustin to Barstow, for example, the charge will drop from $2.42 to $1.64.

$87-Million Revenue Cut

The cost of five-minute calls at distances of 9 to 12 miles will drop from 20 cents to 16 cents; for five-minute calls of 13 to 16 miles, the cost will fall from 30 cents to 26 cents. The PUC estimated that the price cuts will cost Pacific Bell about $87 million in annual revenue.

Friday’s PUC orders continue an earlier policy decision by the commission to peg most telephone prices more closely to the cost of service. Pacific Bell said the basic residential service charge of $8.25 a month, which will increase to $8.35, is about one-third of the utility’s actual cost of providing the customer’s connection to its network.

Basic phone service traditionally has been subsidized by profits from toll calls and other services to make the service widely available to consumers.

No date was set for the rate changes to go into effect, but a Pacific Bell spokeswoman said it probably will take at least 45 days.