STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Division of The Ratepayer Advocate
31 Clinton Street, 11th Fl
P. O. Box 46005
Newark, New Jersey 07101
Press Release
For Immediate Release Thursday, June 26, 2003 |
For
Further Information |
Ratepayer
Advocate Seema M. Singh Testifies In Support of Proposed Cable Regulation
Amendments To Make Cable TV Operators More Accountable To New Jersey Customers
Ratepayer
Advocate asks for Re-opening of Late Fees Rulemaking Proceeding to Consider
Fairness of Imposing Late Charges on Ratepayers
Newark, NJ -- Ratepayer
Advocate Seema M. Singh today testified in support of a number of proposed
changes to existing cable regulations at the Board of Public Utilities’ Public
Hearing on amendments to regulations of cable television and asked for
additional rules to make cable operators more accountable to their customers.
There are 2.5 million cable subscribers in New Jersey that could benefit
from improved quality of service, fair compensation for inconvenience and prompt
attention through the new regulations.
“Governor McGreevey’s
commitment to consumer protection and improving the quality of life for all the
residents of New Jersey is evident in these amendments.
The proposed regulations place a strong emphasis on customer service
concerns and establish customer safeguards from unreasonable procedures of cable
operators. We must ensure that
consumer friendly cable service is available to the people of New Jersey,”
said Ratepayer Advocate Seema M. Singh.
The Ratepayer Advocate
believes that new cable regulations should consist of the following components:
§
Outage
Credits: The Ratepayer Advocate
supports automatic outage credits for outages lasting three hours or more, and
which result from a fiber optic node failure.
The Ratepayer Advocate has also advocated the new rules provide a credit
whenever ten or more customers are affected by a non-node failure.
§
Late
Fees: The Ratepayer Advocate recommends that the Board of Public Utilities
(Board) re-open a proceeding on the late fees charged to customers because there
are significant questions regarding the fairness of imposing late fees on
ratepayers. Late fees average over
$5.00 per month, with some operators charging as much as $14.95.
The late fees charged to subscribers must be fully addressed.
§
A
La Carte Offerings: The Ratepayer Advocate recommends that cable operators be required to
offer cable services on a la carte basis.
This would allow customers to choose the cable channels they wish to view
instead of being forced into a package offering which may or may not contain
channels and features that the customer wants.
§
Telephone
Response Time: The Board has
adopted federal standards in order to improve the response time for customer
telephone inquiries. The rule
requires that telephone calls be answered within thirty seconds and a call must
result in a busy signal less than three percent of the time.
The Ratepayer Advocate supports this amendment to the cable regulations.
§
Service
Call Scheduling: The service call
scheduling proposal requires all service call appointments to abide by a
four-hour window and prevents the cancellation of a service appointment with a
customer after close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled
appointment. The Board’s proposal
is based on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) standards that the Ratepayer
Advocate finds acceptable.
§
Request
for Cable Service: The Board
proposed new rules that prohibit cable operators from refusing service to
potential customers without good reason and also gives the customer a right to
appeal the cable operator’s decision to deny service.
The Ratepayer Advocate supports the proposed rule because it protects
customers against arbitrary behavior by cable operators and it provides
customers with access to cable service.
During today’s hearing,
Ratepayer Advocate Singh also asked the Board to consider adopting a new rule
directing cable operators who file FCC Forms 1205 and 1240 to maintain records
and to provide additional financial, management, equipment and installation
activities data to the Board and Ratepayer Advocate with the filings.
The Ratepayer Advocate reviews the FCC filings as part of the yearly rate
review process in which cable operators are entitled to a “reasonable
profit.”
“Requiring cable
operators to include more complete financial, equipment and subscribers
information in the yearly rate-review process should address many of the
concerns that the public has expressed,” said Ms. Singh.
“This specific proposal ensures that New Jersey consumers will be
protected from unfair and improper rate filings by cable operators.”
The Ratepayer Advocate
also is urging that new accounting safeguards be implemented, including the
requirement for audits by independent auditors of cable operator costs
allocations, to limit cost misallocation and potential cross subsidization
between traditional cable services and non-cable services (i.e., cable modem
service, broadband, etc.). “These
safeguards will not only provide the Board with proper assurances that cable
operators will meet the needs of New Jersey consumers, but should also get the
cable industry away from any pricing discrimination,” said Ms. Singh.
The full text of the
testimony of the Ratepayer Advocate is available on our Web site at http://www.rpa.state.nj.us
The Division of
the Ratepayer Advocate represents the interests of utility consumers and serves
as an active participant in every case when New Jersey utilities seek changes in
their rates or services. The Ratepayer Advocate also gives consumers a voice in
setting long-range energy, water, and telecommunications policy that will affect
the delivery of utility services well into the future.
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