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Public Utility Commission To Investigate Consolidated Communications Service Complaints

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Consolidated Communications provides telecommunication services throughout Vermont. The Public Utility Commission is opening an investigation into service complaints toward Consolidated Communications.

The Public Utility Commission is openingan investigation into service complaints toward Consolidated Communications.Consolidated merged with Fairpoint in 2017, and the Department of Public Service says the company has failed to meet the service quality standards set out in its state permit.

Consolidated Communications provides telecommunication services throughout Vermont, and in many rural areas it is the only company that serves a region.

The Department of Public Service asked for the investigation earlier this month, and this week the Public Utility Commission said it would look into the allegations that Consolidated is not providing adequate service to its customers in Vermont.

Jim Porter, director of the Department of Public Service's public advocacy division, said the state asked the Public Utility Commission to open an investigation to figure out why the company is having so much trouble servicing its customers.

"Typically in a service quality investigation of this nature, the first thing will be to try to ascertain why there’s such a problem currently," Porter said. "And then to come forward with a path to get the issues repaired."

The department says customer complaints over service outages and installation delays significantly spiked this summer.

The number of consumer complaints related to service outages between July and September this year jumped by 2,760 percent, compared with that same span in 2017.

And the Department of Public Service also says complaints related to installation delays increased by 500 percent during that same 2018 period, again compared with the complaints received between July and September of last year.

For many people in the most rural parts of the state, Porter said, Consolidated is the only company providing telecommunications services. And so Porter said he hopes the investigation helps the state figure out what it takes to better serve those areas.

"This is a competitive market in Vermont, however our concern for several years has been in focusing on those customers who just have no other choice," Porter said. "And I think that will be a piece of this investigation as well."

Rep. Laura Sibilia, an independent representative from West Dover, said people in her district encountered serious problems with their phone service this spring and summer.

Sibilia said the outages are happening in areas with no cell service, and so people who are elderly or who have medical issues have been stranded down dirt roads without any connections to the outside world.

“We have to take a very hard look at — top to bottom — of our communications infrastructure in this state. When our landline phone system is not reliable for rural Vermont, which does not have cell service or internet service, we have a problem that is an emergency," Sibilia said. "And I am happy to hear that there is going to be an investigation. And I hope that we, you know, are working with the telephone companies, the internet providers ... to start solving this situation."

The state says it has been addressing the problems as the complaints have come in, and that Consolidated is cooperating with state regulators.

But the Department of Public Service asked for the formal investigation to determine if Consolidated Communications is "taking measures to ensure prompt and reliable service.”

In a prepared email statement, Consolidated Communications Vice President of Regulatory & Public Policy Michael Shultz said:

“It is our highest priority to improve service and repair levels across the state of Vermont. We have a comprehensive plan already in place to improve service for our customers, which includes added resources. This plan, active for the past month, has been highly effective with a 40 percent reduction in the number of customers awaiting installation or repairs. We continue to work closely with the Vermont DPS on our plan and provide them with weekly updates on our progress. Our intent is to see improved service and repair levels across all areas of the state within the next few weeks.”

The state is also requiring Consolidated to submit weekly reports “detailing its progress in implementing a service quality action plan.”

The Public Utility Commission says the investigation will help determine if penalties should be imposed.

Update 2:37 p.m. This post was updated to include statements from Consolidated Communications, Porter and Sibilia.
 

Howard Weiss-Tisman is Vermont Public’s southern Vermont reporter, but sometimes the story takes him to other parts of the state.
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