Phone and internet provider Consolidated Communications was ordered by the state’s Public Utility Commission in January to invest $150,000 in its rural Vermont infrastructure — the result of an investigation into the company’s quality of service.
But weeks after the investigation concluded, concerns remain about the company’s service in rural Vermont.
After an elderly couple in West Wardsboro were left without Consolidated’s landline service for four days at the end of February and into March, their representative, Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, wrote to Gov. Phil Scott.
The couple live in an area without cellphone service, and were concerned about the prolonged outage — which resulted from a windstorm — and their inability to reach emergency services. One of them has a heart condition.
In many rural areas of the state without cellphone service, Consolidated is the only company that offers landline and internet to Vermonters.
Sibilia, an outspoken critic of Consolidated, told the governor that in the wake of the West Wardsboro case, the state needs to “brainstorm” solutions to make sure rural Vermonters can always call emergency services.
She added that the company’s “customer service and staffing issues have not improved as a result of the recently closed investigation and fine.
“This situation is completely unacceptable. Vermonters must have reasonable assurances that they can still contact police and EMS,” Sibilia wrote in the March 6 letter.
“[Or] we must be candid with them that we are unable to provide them that reasonable assurance and then help our towns put in place emergency communications plans,” she wrote.
June Tierney, commissioner of the Department of Public Service, which regulates the telecommunications industry in Vermont, said that Consolidated’s service must be evaluated holistically — not based on one incident.
Tierney also noted that the PUC’s order was issued recently, and it’s too soon to determine whether it has resulted in an improved outcome for service.
“That order came out in mid-January and so with the passage of time it should become clear whether it’s had its desired impact or not,” she said.
But she agreed with Sibilia that the Wardsboro case was “unacceptable.”
“Unfortunately folks in rural Vermont have been waiting for a very long time for their telecommunications infrastructure to come up to standard if not improve,” Tierney said.
“And so they understandably and rightfully would be disturbed to hear that more time is needed to improve the situation.”
Tierney also said that the department had been hoping that the PUC would require Consolidated to issue $5 credits to consumers for every day it delays repair services after the first 24 hours.
“The idea was very simply that those dollars add up very quickly and they create an incentive to fix the problem,” she said.
But the PUC ultimately determined it wasn’t within its jurisdiction to mandate the bill credits.
The PUC’s order told the company to pay a $120,000 penalty, or make a $150,000 investment in its Vermont infrastructure.
A spokesperson for the governor said the administration would have no additional comment beyond Tierney’s.
There is no data on Consolidated Communications’ service in Vermont over the last two and half months.
But the most recent information — from the last three months in 2019 — show that the company was able to resolve 47% of reported residential internet and phone service problems within 24 hours.
The state expects the telecommunications companies it regulates to resolve 70% of their service problems within 24 hours.
Just before the Department of Public Service first asked the PUC to investigate Consolidated’s service issues in the fall of 2018, the company was only fixing 26% of issues within that time frame.
In a statement, Consolidated said that it has “made significant improvements and continues to reduce repair intervals for traditional voice services, reduce complaints and focus on increasing cleared-in-24 service levels.”
“We work hard to provide reliable service across our entire service area and to address the needs of all of our customers,” Michael Shultz, the company’s senior vice president for regulatory and public policy, wrote.
The company also said it is working with the Department of Public Safety to identify areas of the state in which to make further investments.
The company did not provide comment on Sibilia’s letter but said it was “pleased to report West Wardsboro service is restored and working.”
One of the members of the West Wardsboro couple, who asked that his name not to be used, said he called Consolidated multiple times over the course of the four days he was without phone service — Feb. 27 through March 2 — and let the company know about his wife’s health condition.
“I can live without a telephone, but if my wife had a heart attack or something, what the heck would I have done — I couldn’t call 911,” he said.
“It seems to me that they were more concerned about keeping their costs down and getting it fixed when they could get it fixed without spending any more money than they had to.”
