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Committee approves Idaho PUC customer- and telephone-rules; committee removes two subsections of customer-responsibility provision
Summary
The Senate State Affairs Committee approved two Public Utilities Commission rule dockets: one on customer-relations rules and one on telephone customer-relations rules. The committee approved docket 3121012401 and approved docket 3141012401 while striking subsections 2A and 2B of section 205 after senators flagged ambiguity.
The Senate State Affairs Committee approved two rule dockets from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission covering customer relations and telephone customer-relations rules, and removed two subsections from a customer-responsibility provision after committee review.
Steven Goodson, policy strategist for the PUC, presented docket 3121012401 (customer relations rules) and said the edits were part of a broader effort to streamline administrative rules and reduce regulatory burden consistent with the governor’s executive order. The committee approved that docket by voice vote.
Goodson then presented docket 3141012401 (telephone customer-relations rules), a rewrite intended to clarify billing, deposit, service denial and termination processes and to incorporate relevant federal regulations. Senator Adams identified a blue-lined deletion in section 205 (customer responsibility) that appeared to remove language clarifying when a telephone company is not to hold a customer responsible for charges not billed to the customer’s service. Goodson did not have an immediate explanation and said staff from the Division of Financial Management previously involved in the drafting were no longer available.
Senator Adams offered a motion to approve docket 3141012401 but to strike subsections 2A and 2B from section 205; senators discussed whether the provision had been moved elsewhere and whether leaving it in would create redundancy. After clarification, the committee approved the telephone rules docket with the specified subsections removed.
Idaho Power Company had submitted a letter saying it did not oppose one of the PUC’s proposed edits (to change a "may" to a "shall" regarding pretermination notice), and Goodson told the committee the commission seeks clear, non-discriminatory rules to resolve recurring disputes between telephone companies and customers.
