Bellsouth Telecommunications, Inc. v. Tennessee Regulatory Authority

OPINION

BEN H. CANTRELL, P.J., M.S.,

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which WILLIAM B. CAIN, J. and VERNON NEAL, Sp. J., joined.

The only remaining question in this appeal concerns the authority of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) to order the payment of interest on payphone rate refunds after the TRA found that the ratepayers had been overcharged. We find that Tenn.Code Ann. § 65-5-203(c) gives the TRA the requisite authority.

In response to a series of orders from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requiring the states to reclassify payphones and eliminate subsidies…