Coloradans are in danger of losing their voice

Column by AARP Colorado State Director Morie Smile

Since 1984, the Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel has represented ordinary consumers when utility companies attempt to raise their rates. The office has saved Coloradans an estimated $1.7 billion in energy and telecommunications rates. But now, some special interests are trying to shut down the office, and we shouldn’t allow that to happen.

The seven-member OCC represents residential, small business and agricultural consumers in telecom, electric and gas cases before the state Public Utilities Commission. By state law, the OCC’s representation of small consumers will end if the Colorado Legislature doesn’t extend its authority this session.

If that happens, Coloradans stand to see an increase of about $45 million per year in utility rate hikes.

Even if the OCC is renewed, an effort by Louisiana-based CenturyLink and other out-of-state telephone companies is underway to remove telecommunications from the purview of the OCC. Those companies claim that a consumer voice is no longer needed in telecom cases before the PUC. We at AARP disagree.

These same national companies have many well-paid lobbyists in Colorado and around the country, who have convinced legislators to remove many consumer protections from telecommunications, arguing that the free enterprise system will protect them. But the telecom companies still receive millions in state and federal subsidies in spite of their testimonials in support of free enterprise. 

Consumers pay for the federal and state subsidies through surcharges on their bills that the telecom companies impose, even when not required by law. In Colorado, CenturyLink has gone to court to keep $3 million in subsidies that the telecom companies argued last year were not needed and should go to a broadband fund set up to support rural areas without high speed internet. At the same time, CenturyLink advertises that it is providing 1 gig broadband service in Denver; hundreds of times faster than what is available in many rural areas of the state.

The $1.7 billion that the OCC has saved consumers in its 30 years of existence translates into more than $30 dollars in lower rates for every dollar the OCC spends. Another way to look at it: consumers have received a 3,000 percent per year return on investment at a time when we are earning less than 1 percent return on money in the bank. No wonder the telecom companies want to eliminate OCC oversight.

The consumer voice is especially critical in telecom cases as 911 emergency service is upgraded around the state. Some consumers on the Western Slope pay up to four times more for 911 than residents in metro Denver and the quality of service may be less. OCC oversight is critical as the Colorado General Assembly has removed much of telecom regulatory authority from the PUC.

The OCC is active in reviewing where and how consumer-funded telecom subsidies are and should be spent. It is the consumers’ voice. The OCC also represents consumers before the Federal Communications Commission during the transition of Internet phone service, especially in rural areas where broadband speeds can be slow and choice is frequently not available.

Don’t let them take away your voice on utility rate hikes and other issues. Forty states have consumer advocates.

The Colorado Legislature should renew the Office of Consumer Counsel because the OCC is the only organization in the state that presents a full case on behalf of consumers in the face of utility rate hikes.

[Photo courtesy of JLujan]