199—22.6 (476) Standards of quality of service. The local exchange utility using its facilities to provide primary service will measure its service connection, held order, and service interruption performance monthly according to subrules 22.6(1), 22.6(2), and 22.6(3). Records of the measurements and any summaries thereof, by individual wire centers, will be provided upon request of the board. Records of these measurements will be retained by the utility for two years.
	 22.6(1) Service connection. Each local exchange utility using its facilities to provide service shall make all reasonable efforts to maintain a five-business-day standard for primary connection service or within the customer-requested service connection date. All reasonable efforts to maintain the above standard shall be measured by the following:
	  a.   	 Eighty-five percent of all customers provided service within five business days of the request or the customer-requested date, whichever is later. Compliance will be measured based on a three-month rolling average.
	  b.   	 Ninety-five percent of all customers provided service within ten business days of the request or the customer-requested date, whichever is later. Compliance will be measured based on a three-month rolling average.
	  c.   	 Ninety-nine percent of all customers provided service within 30 business days of the request or the customer-requested date, whichever is later. Compliance will be measured based on a three-month rolling average.
	 22.6(2) Held orders.
	  a.   	 During such period of time as a local exchange utility using its facilities to provide service may not be able to supply primary telephone service to prospective customers within five business days after the date applicant desires service, the telephone utility shall keep a record, by exchanges, showing the name and address of each applicant for service, the date of application, the date that service was requested, and the class of service applied for, together with the reason for the inability to provide new service to the applicant.
	  b.   	 When, because of a shortage of facilities, a utility is unable to supply primary telephone service on the date requested by applicants, first priority shall be given to furnishing those services which are essential to public health and safety. In cases of prolonged shortage or other emergency, the board may require establishment of a priority plan, subject to its approval for clearing held orders, and may request periodic reports concerning the progress being made.
	  c.   	 When the local exchange utility using its facilities to provide service fails to provide primary local exchange service to any customer requesting service within 15 business days, the local exchange utility shall provide the customer with an alternative form of service until primary local exchange service can be provided. The alternative form of service provided shall be wireless telephone service unless the customer agrees otherwise.
	  d.   	 If an alternative form of primary service is provided, the local exchange utility is authorized to charge the customer the regular rates (if applicable) for the alternative primary service ordered, if such rates are less than the regulated rate for primary local exchange service. Otherwise, the customer will be charged the regulated rate for primary local exchange service. Where an alternative form of service is impossible to provide, the facilities-based local exchange utility shall waive all usual installation charges and, once primary local exchange service is provided, shall credit the customer’s account in an amount equal to the pro-rata monthly primary local exchange charge for each day service was not provided.
	 22.6(3) Service interruption.
	  a.   	 Each telephone utility using its facilities to provide primary service shall make all reasonable efforts to prevent interruptions of service. When interruptions are reported or found by the utility to occur, the utility shall reestablish service with the shortest possible delay. Priority shall be given to a residential customer who states that telephone service is essential due to an existing medical emergency of the customer, a member of the customer’s family, or any permanent resident of the premises where service is rendered. All reasonable efforts shall be measured by the following:
	 (1) 	 Eighty-five percent of all out-of-service trouble reports cleared within 24 hours. Compliance will be measured based on a three-month rolling average.
	 (2) 	 Ninety-five percent of all out-of-service trouble reports cleared within 48 hours. Compliance will be measured based on a three-month rolling average.
	 (3) 	 One hundred percent of all out-of-service trouble reports cleared within 72 hours.
	 (4) 	 The response time for all utilities responsible to test and attempt to correct any interexchange trunk problem, except a total outage, shall be within 24 hours after the problem is reported. If the problem is not corrected within that time, the utility responsible for doing so shall keep all other affected telephone utilities advised as to the current status on a daily basis. For a total outage, the response time shall be immediate.
	  b.   	 Arrangements shall be made to have adequate personnel and equipment available to receive and record trouble reports and also to clear trouble of an emergency nature at all times.
	  c.   	 Calls directed to the published telephone numbers for service repair or the business offices of the telephone utility shall be acknowledge within 20 seconds for 85 percent of all such calls and within 40 seconds for 100 percent of all such calls.
	  d.   	 If a customer’s service must be interrupted due to maintenance, the utility shall notify the affected customer, in advance, if possible. The company shall perform the work to minimize inconvenience to the customer and strive to avoid interruptions when there is conversation on the line.
	  e.   	 Each telephone utility shall keep a written record showing all interruptions affecting service in a major portion of an exchange area for a minimum of six years. This record shall show the date, time, duration, time cleared and extent and cause of the interruption. This record shall be available to the board upon request.
	  f.   	 Whenever a trouble report is received, a record shall be made by the company and if repeated within a 30-day period by the same customer, the case shall be referred to an individual for permanent correction.
	  g.   	 When a customer’s service is reported or is found to be out of order, it shall be restored as promptly as possible.
	  h.   	 Each local exchange utility using its facilities to provide service shall maintain its network to reasonably minimize customer trouble reports. The rate of customer trouble reports on the company side of the demarcation point will not exceed four per 100 access lines per month per wire center.
	  i.   	 When a subscriber’s service is interrupted and remains out of service for more than 24 consecutive hours after being reported to the local exchange company or being found by the company to be out of order, whichever occurs first, the company shall make appropriate adjustments to the subscriber’s account. This rule does not apply if the outage occurs as a result of:
	 (1) 	 A negligent or willful act on the part of the subscriber;
	 (2) 	 A malfunction of subscriber-owned telephone equipment;
	 (3) 	 Disasters or acts of God; or
	 (4) 	 The inability of the company to gain access to the subscriber’s premises.
The adjustment, either a direct payment or a bill credit, shall be the proportionate part of the monthly charges for all services and facilities rendered inoperative during the interruption. The adjustment shall begin with the hour of the report or discovery of the interruption. Adjustments not in dispute shall be rendered within two billing periods after the billing period in which the interruption occurred.
	 22.6(4) Repair—missed appointments. When a utility makes an appointment for installation or repair within a given range of time, and misses that appointment by over an hour, the customer will receive one month’s primary local service free of charge. This is applicable to each missed appointment.
	 22.6(5) Emergency operation.
	  a.   	 Each telephone utility shall make reasonable provisions to meet emergencies resulting from failures of power service, climate control, sudden and prolonged increases in traffic, illness of operators, or from fire, explosion, water, storm, or acts of God, and each telephone utility shall inform affected employees, at regular intervals not to exceed one year, of procedures to be followed in the event of emergency in order to prevent or mitigate interruption or impairment of telephone service.
	  b.   	 All central offices shall have adequate provision for emergency power. Each central office shall contain a minimum of two hours of battery reserve. For offices without permanently installed emergency power facilities, there shall be access to a mobile power unit with enough capacity to carry the load which can be delivered on reasonably short notice and which can be readily connected.
	  c.   	 An auxiliary power unit shall be permanently installed in all toll centers and at all exchanges exceeding 4,000 access lines.
	  d.   	 Each local exchange utility shall maintain and make available for board inspection, its current plans for emergency operations, including the names and telephone numbers of the local exchange utility’s disaster services coordinator and alternates.
	 22.6(6) Business offices.
	  a.   	 Each local exchange utility shall have one or more business offices or customer service centers staffed to provide customer access in person or by telephone to qualified personnel, including supervisory personnel where warranted, to provide information relating to services and rates, accept and process applications for service, explain charges on customers’ bills, adjust charges made in error, and, generally, to act as representatives of the local exchange utility. If one business office serves several exchanges, toll-free calling from those exchanges to that office shall be provided.
	  b.   	 Upon the closing of any local exchange utility’s public business office, the company must provide to the board, in writing, at least 30 days prior to the closing of the office the following information:
	 (1) 	 The exchange(s) and communities affected by the closing;
	 (2) 	 The date of the closing;
	 (3) 	 A listing of other methods and facility locations available for payment of subscribers’ bills in the affected exchanges; and
	 (4) 	 A listing of other methods and locations available for obtaining public business office services.
[ARC 7826B, IAB 6/3/09, effective 7/8/09]