Chicago is My Home

22
Jul

AT&T Illinois to Forgo $5.5 Million in Rate Hikes to Compensate Customers

Author: Adam Fendelman, Category: Telecom

CHICAGO – AT&T Illinois will forgo $5.5 million in future rate hikes through 2011 as part of an agreement to correct billing errors on certain rate packages, Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan said in a Monday statement.

The concession is an addition to the $1.59 million in refunds the company has already paid out to erroneously charged customers. The refunds were mandated in late 2007 after the attorney general’s office detected that AT&T overcharged for some of its products.

“AT&T has made refunds and reduced the rates as originally agreed and has further agreed to defer future increases that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) had authorized,” Madigan said on Monday.

The concessions announced this week include two parts. AT&T will forgo the last of three per-call rate increases scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2009. This freezes the rate at 4 cents per local call for 18 months. Further, the company will retain low-priced packages through Nov. 2011.

The settlement also includes changes to the AT&T Web site that enable consumers to research and utilize lower-priced services via the Internet.

By Megan O’Neil