Hamm v. Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company

Toal, Justice:

In this appeal the Consumer Advocate contests the validity of an approved rate increase for Touch-Tone dialing telephone rates requested by Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company. We reverse.

FACTS

This case involves three separate orders of the Public Service Commission (PSC). The Consumer Advocate (Advocate) participated in each of the hearings leading to the three orders.

In Order No. 87-982, the PSC mandated that all local exchange telephone companies must offer multi-jurisdictional WATS lines services, as opposed to separate intrastate and interstate WATS lines. This…