Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel v. Public Utilities Commission

I. Introduction

In this appeal, we address whether rates charged for a prepaid telecommunications plan, the NOW Plan, offered by NOW Communications, Inc., violate Colorado's statutory rate cap for residential telephone service. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved NOW's rates and granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity to NOW Communications, Inc. to provide residential basic local telephone exchange service. The district court affirmed the PUC's order.

Both the PUC and the district court held that the monthly and non-recurring charges for NOW Communication's prepaid…