California consumer advocates want to freeze LifeLine program rates because...
California consumer advocates want to freeze LifeLine program rates because they believe the service has become “increasingly unaffordable,” they said in comments to the California Public Utilities Commission filed at the end of June (http://xrl.us/bngdob). LifeLine rates will rest at…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
$6.84 until the cap is removed Dec. 31, and then rates will presumably begin varying, the advocates said. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) makes the case that removing the cap “will likely lead to a rapid increase in the price for LifeLine service,” potentially doubling the rates, and said the change “would be likely to cause much hardship among low-income households.” TURN had also advocated freezing the amount of subsidy to carriers to provide a check against the “incentive to increase basic rates and the resulting amount of the LifeLine surcharge,” which the comments also support. The groups that support TURN’s position include, in these June 27 comments, the Greenlining Institute, National Consumer Law Center and Center for Accessible Technology. TURN first raised the issue in June 12 comments to the PUC (http://xrl.us/bngdpe).