BE OUR GUEST: PROPOSED BILL HAS POTENTIAL OF HIKING PHONE RATES OR WIPING OUT REFUNDS

Don Zimmer is a resident of Cape Girardeau. He is president of Long Distance Discount and has been in the long distance telephone business for almost 10 years. LDD is one of Southwestern Bell's largest customers in this area.

Proposed legislation in the Missouri House and Senate has the potential of either increasing your phone rates or denying you refunds. Southwestern Bell hopes to exclude their Yellow Page profits from their earnings when future telephone rates are set.

Southwestern Bell excessive profits exceeded $150 million for 1992. This money will be shared between Bell and its customers in June 1993. Bell hopes to eliminate about $50 million for refund purposes by eliminating the Yellow Page profits. Southwestern Bell assures that the bill will not automatically and immediately raise your rates. Such assurance seems generous until you consider they currently are experiencing excessive earnings to the tune of $150 million a year.

Southwestern Bell's ability to promise no rate increase in the near future is due to their existing profits already being too high. Each of the last two years, Bell has been allowed to keep approximately $40 million of excessive profits.

The opposition comes from many groups. The Missouri Public Service Commission, Public Counsel, American Association of Retired People, and MOPIRG have spoken against the bill. The Commission pointed out that according to a recent survey, all 50 states consider Yellow Pages revenue in the ratemaking process. The state allowed Bell to form a separate Yellow Pages subsidiary in the early 1980's. Later, company executives agreed that Public Service Commission regulators would still have discretion whether Yellow Page earnings were considered when phone rates were being set.

Now, Southwestern Bell wants to eliminate the Public Service Commission's discretionary power. They want the less informed state Legislature to do it for them. Some heavy lobbying is going on. The PSC, not the State Legislature, should make the decision.

No compelling reason exists for General Assembly members to vote for a bill that could take more money from consumers and hand it over to Southwestern Bell.

Please work to defeat this bill. Write or call your state representative or senator. Tell them you are opposed to deregulation of Yellow Pages profits. The House version of the bill in known as HB302. The Senate version is known as SB173.