State eyes phone users for FairPoint costs
Maine's public advocate is asking the Legislature to levy an emergency assessment on telephone users to pay the legal fees associated with the state's involvement in FairPoint's bankruptcy proceedings.
Public Advocate Richard Davies has submitted a proposal to the Utilities Committee for an assessment of at least $100,000 to allow Maine to continue representing consumers in FairPoint Communication's bankruptcy case, according to Capitol News Service. All telephone users in the state, not just FairPoint customers, would be charged. The advocate estimates the fee will total 2.6 cents per $100 of phone usage.
While some of the legal costs will be paid with existing funds from the Maine Public Utilities Commission, additional money will be needed once FairPoint files its reorganization plan, Davies told the news service.
The state's legal fees for representing consumers in the case have already topped $30,000. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Jan. 27. FairPoint last week extended the deadline for filing its reorganization plan to Feb. 1.
In related news, FairPoint has filed a response to Biddeford-based GWI's petition for an investigation into the company's billing practices. The North Carolina-based company disputes that it is overbilling GWI for leasing FairPoint's network to service large business and industrial customers, and says GWI actually owes FairPoint $2 million, not the previously stated $3 million, according to the Kennebec Journal. FairPoint plans to discontinue service to GWI's business and industrial customers serviced through its network unless a contract agreement is finalized by Feb. 12.
Go to the article from the Kennebec Journal >>
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