Strunk v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
Strunk v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Petitioner Leonard M. Strunk, a customer of intervenor Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania (Bell), appeals from an order of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) adopting an Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) Initial Decision dismissing petitioners formal complaint against Bell.
At issue is the validity of Bells transmission function charge, imposed in addition to other charges for foreign exchange telephone service.
Petitioner resides in East Fallowfield Township which, for the purpose of receiving telephone service from Bell, is located in Bells Coatesville exchange area. Bell assigns either a 383 or 384 prefix to telephone numbers within the Coatesville exchange area. However, in 1977, petitioner obtained from Bell a 363 Exton exchange area prefix, which is foreign to petitioners calling area, that permitted petitioner to have metropolitan area flat rate service
Petitioner responded to Bells letter by refusing to pay the transmission function charge and filing a complaint with the commission (1) to prohibit Bell from disconnecting his service for nonpayment of that charge and (2) to order Bell to remove such extra charge from his bill. Specifically, petitioner argued there, as he does here, that the transmission function charge is included in the $60.50 charge related to Bell’s charge for service and equipment and that Bell is attempting to charge him for it twice by making it a separate billing item on his bill. In the alternative, he contends that the transmission function charge is unreasonable. We cannot agree.
The setting of rates is an administrative function of the PUC and our scope of review in complaint proceedings is restricted to a determination of whether constitutional rights were violated, errors of law committed, or necessary findings of feet made without the support
Before the ALJ, Bell managers testified that foreign exchange telephone service is telephone service supplied from an exchange outside subscribers normal exchange area. Bells handbook defines it as “[a] service providing a circuit connecting a subscribers main station or private branch exchange with a central office or exchange other than that which normally serves the exchange area in which the subscriber is located.”
Here the record clearly shows that, although the petitioner resided in the Coatesville exchange area, he had an Exton exchange that permitted him to make unlimited toll-free calls to Philadelphia, a service not normally available to Coatesville subscribers. Thus, petitioners use of the Exton 363 exchange number in Coatesville to receive metropolitan flat rate service constituted foreign exchange service.
To provide petitioner with foreign exchange service, Bell ran what is known as an interexchange channel, or a foreign exchange line, that connected its Coatesville central office with its Exton central office. To that line the metropolitan flat rate service option was attached. The monthly charge to the petitioner for the interexchange channel, which was based on the aerial distance of eleven miles between the Coatesville and Exton central office, is $60.50 and breaks down as follows: (1) $10.50 for the first mile; (2) $6.50 for each of the next four miles; and (3) $4.00 for each of the final six miles.
Bell’s failure to bill petitioner correctly did not vest petitioner with any right to continued underbilling after Bell discovered its mistake. Instead, Bell was legally obligated to bill petitioner consistent with its latest tariff. Tariffs are binding contracts on the utility and the customer, and there is no lawful rate contrary to the last tariff published as provided by law. Brockway.
Petitioner has not proved that any of the charges relating to his telephone service are unreasonable.
Finally, in his petition for review to this court, petitioner raised questions concerning the wording of Bell’s bills and contracts with their customers. Those issues were not raised before the PUC, and cannot be considered by this court.
Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the PUC.
Order
Now, October 2, 1987, the order of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission entered July 29, 1986, at C-844285, dismissing the complaint of Leonard M. Strunk, is hereby affirmed.
Metropolitan Area Flat Rate Service is an optional service available only to residential customers located within the Philadel
The transmission function is equipment required to assure that, once the interexchange channel is connected, conversation between two points will be transmitted adequately. The transmission function charge is an additional charge at each end of the interexchange channel.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.