237.66 Disclosure of local service options.
Subdivision 1. Notice to local residential customers. A telephone company, when a residential customer initially requests service or requests a change of service, and annually in the form of a bill insert, shall advise each residential customer of the price of all service options available to that customer. The requirement of an annual notice through a bill insert does not apply to long-distance service.
Subd. 1a. Notice to customers. (a) Each residential and commercial telecommunications carrier customer may elect to require that the telephone company serving the customer receive authorization from the customer before a request to serve that customer from a different intrastate telecommunications carrier than the carrier currently serving the customer is processed.
(b) For new installations, a telephone company shall notify a residential or commercial customer of the right described in paragraph (a) when the customer initially requests intraexchange service.
(c) Within one year of January 1, 1997, a telecommunications carrier shall notify each of its existing residential and commercial customers of the right described in paragraph (a). The notice may be made as a billing insert. Any customer notification of the rights set forth in this subdivision shall be provided utilizing uniform, competitively neutral language and the form, content, and style of the authorization shall be consistent with federal law and regulation and shall use language provided and approved by the public utilities commission.
(d) A customer may change this election at any time by notifying the telephone company of that decision. No separate charge may be imposed on the customer for electing to exercise the right described in paragraph (a) or to change that election, but a telephone company may recover in rates the reasonable costs of administering the election.
(e) If a customer has elected to exercise the right described in paragraph (a), the telephone company shall not process a request to serve the customer by another telecommunications carrier without prior authorization from the customer. If a customer has not elected to exercise the right described in paragraph (a), the company may process a request to serve the customer by another telecommunications carrier.
(f) A carrier may request such a change if the customer has authorized the change either orally or in writing signed by the customer. If the carrier requests a change in a customer's service provider, the carrier must:
(1) notify the customer in writing that the request has been processed; and
(2) be able to present, upon complaint by the customer, verified authorization for the change by the customer.
If the initial authorization was made orally, the carrier must be able to present verified authorization received from the customer within 14 business days of the date the oral authorization was made.
(g) In the case of an oral authorization, if a telecommunications carrier does not receive the verified authorization within 14 business days of the date of the oral authorization, the carrier must either bear the risk that the change to the service of the carrier will be deemed unauthorized under paragraph (h) or:
(1) immediately return the customer to the service of the customer's original service provider;
(2) bear all costs associated with returning the customer; and
(3) bill the customer for services rendered at the rate the customer would have paid for such services if the request to serve the customer had not been made.
(h) If the carrier is not able to present, upon complaint by the customer, verified authorization received from the customer as required under paragraph (f) and the carrier did not return the customer to the service of the customer's original service provider as required under paragraph (g), the change to the service of the carrier shall be deemed to be unauthorized from the date the carrier requested the change. In that event, the carrier shall:
(1) bear all costs of immediately returning the customer to the service of the customer's original service provider; and
(2) bear all costs of serving that customer during the period of unauthorized service.
(i) For purposes of paragraphs (f), (g), and (h), authorization required in those paragraphs may be verified utilizing any method that is consistent with federal law and regulation.
Subd. 1b. Loading. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) or (c), a telephone company or telecommunications carrier providing local service shall not charge a telephone service subscriber as defined in section 325F.692 for a telephone or telecommunications service that is not required by the commission to be offered and for which the subscriber did not explicitly contract.
(b) If a charge is assessed on a per use basis for a service described in paragraph (a), the charge shall be applied as a credit to the subscriber's next monthly bill, if the subscriber notifies the telephone company or telecommunications carrier that the subscriber did not utilize the service or did not authorize the utilization of the service.
(c) A telephone company or telecommunications carrier that receives a notification from a telephone service subscriber under paragraph (b) shall inform the subscriber of the ability to block the services from future use by the subscriber, and shall block the services from future use by the subscriber, if the subscriber so requests. If a subscriber requests that the carrier or company not block the service or later requests to have the block lifted, the subscriber shall be responsible for charges caused by the future utilization of that service. The carrier or company may not charge a recurring fee for blocking the service.
Subd. 2. Filing; exemptions. Copies of both the written notices and information provided to customer service representatives concerning the disclosure required under subdivision 1 must be filed once every 12 months with the commission and the department. Independent telephone companies, municipalities, and cooperative telephone associations are exempt from the requirements of this subdivision unless otherwise ordered by the commission.
Subd. 2a. Call blocking. A telephone company, when a residential customer initially requests service, shall advise each residential customer of the availability of all blocking options including 900 number blocking and international long-distance blocking.
Subd. 3. Enforcement. If, after an expedited procedure conducted under section 237.61, the commission finds that a telephone company is failing to provide disclosure as required under subdivision 1, or the notification required under subdivision 1a, paragraphs (b) and (c), it shall order the company to take corrective action as necessary.
HIST: 1987 c 340 s 10; 1994 c 449 s 1; 1996 c 340 s 2,3; 1997 c 68 s 4
* NOTE: See section 237.5799
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes