North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 04 - COMMERCE › Chapter 11 - UTILITIES COMMISSION › Chapter 9 › Section 11 R09-08 - SERVICE OBJECTIVES FOR REGULATED LOCAL EXCHANGE TELEPHONE COMPANIES AND COMPETING LOCAL PROVIDERS (CLPS)

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a) Service
				Objectives. Each regulated local exchange telephone company and CLP shall
				perform and provide service in accordance with the following uniform service
				objectives:
Measure No.
Description
Objective
1
Intraoffice completion rate
99% or more
2
Interoffice completion rate
98% or more
3
EAS transmission loss
95% or more between 2 and 10 dB
4
EAS trunk noise
95% or more 30 dBrnc or less
5
Operator "0" answertime
90% or more of calls answered within 10 seconds or
							 ASA of 6 seconds
6
Directory assistance answertime
85% or more of calls answered within 10 seconds or
							 ASA of 6 seconds
7
Business office answertime
ASA of 30 seconds
8
Repair service answertime
ASA of 30 seconds
9
Initial customer trouble reports
4.75 or less per 100 total access lines
10
Repeat reports
1.0 report or less per 100 total access
							 lines
11
Out-of-service troubles cleared within 24
							 Hours
95% or more
12
Regular service orders completed within 5 working
							 days
90% or more
13
New service installation appointments not met for
							 Company reasons
5% or less
14
New service held orders not completed within 30
							 days
0.1% or less of total access lines
(b)
				This rule shall not preclude flexibility in considering future circumstances
				that may justify changes in or exceptions to these service
				objectives.
(c) Force Majeure. A
				company may seek a waiver of part or all of Rule R9-8 due to force majeure. To
				request a waiver, a company should file adjusted data and unadjusted data along
				with its waiver request. In order to secure Commission approval, the waiver
				request should clearly demonstrate that (1) the force majeure event was
				sufficiently serious and unusual to warrant adjustment of the monthly service
				quality statistics, including a detailed description of the adverse
				consequences of the event on the ratepayers' service and the company's
				facilities; (2) to the extent reasonably foreseeable, the company prudently
				planned and prepared in advance for such emergencies; (3) despite these plans
				and preparations, and the best efforts of the company personnel before, during,
				and after the event, failures to satisfy the service objectives could not
				reasonably have been avoided; and (4) the extent and nature of the adjustments
				requested are appropriate for the circumstances. The Commission shall grant
				waiver requests if the Commission finds that all four criteria have been
				met.
(d) Reporting Requirement.
				Each regulated local exchange telephone company and CLP actually providing
				basic local residential and/or business exchange service to customers in North
				Carolina shall file a report each calendar quarter with the Chief Clerk of the
				Commission detailing the monthly results of its compliance with Measures 5 - 14
				as set forth in this Rule. The report may be filed by either (1) submitting an
				original, three (3) hard copies, and two electronic copies in Excel to the
				Chief Clerk, or (2) submitting the report electronically with the Chief Clerk
				pursuant to Commission Rule R1-28, the Chief Clerk's Office shall forward one
				hard copy and one electronic copy to the Public Staff - Communications
				Division. Companies should reflect the company name as certified by the
				Commission. Additionally, the hard copies and electronic copies on diskette
				should be clearly marked with the company name, the docket number, and the
				reporting period. The Commission will specify the format of the report.
				Companies not providing service in North Carolina or not providing basic local
				residential and/or business exchange service to customers in North Carolina
				shall file a letter, in lieu of a report, each quarter specifying why a report
				does not have to be filed.
Each regulated local exchange company and CLP shall report
				  its performance results for the following six objectives on an exchange
				  level:
· Initial Customer Trouble Reports (Measure 9);
· Repeat Reports (Measure 10);
· Out-of-Service Troubles Cleared Within 24 Hours (Measure
				  11);
· Regular Service Orders Completed Within 5 Working Days
				  (Measure 12);
· New Service Installation Appointments Not Met for Company
				  Reasons (Measure 13); and
· New Service Held Orders Not Completed Within 30 Days
				  (Measure 14).
[
COMMISSION NOTE:
After one year, companies may
				  petition the Commission for exemption from the requirement to report these
				  results on an exchange level.]
Each regulated local exchange company and CLP that uses
				  separate call or service centers or service representatives to provide service
				  to their business and residential customers shall file performance results for
				  the following measures for the following categories of customers:
(1) all North Carolina
				business1 customers;
(2) all North Carolina residential customers;
				and
(3) all North Carolina
				customers:
· Business Office Answertime (Measure 7);
· Repair Service Answertime (Measure 8);
· Out-of-Service Troubles Cleared Within 24 Hours (Measure
				  11);
· Regular Service Orders Completed Within 5 Working Days
				  (Measure 12);
· New Service Installation Appointments Not Met for Company
				  Reasons (Measure 13); and
· New Service Held Orders Not Completed Within 30 Days
				  (Measure 14).
If a company's residential call or service centers handle the
				  calls or service for small businesses of five lines or less, the company may
				  include the statistics for these small businesses in the residential customer
				  category, but must notate this inclusion and verify that there is no
				  preferential treatment given to either class of customers in its quarterly
				  report.
Companies are not required to report statistics for customer
				  groups that are not served by call or service centers, but on an individual
				  account basis. In the first report following the effective date of the
				  amendments to this rule, each company should note which customer groups are
				  excluded from the report and notify the Commission if customer groups that are
				  excluded should change.
[
COMMISSION NOTE:
After one year, companies may
				  petition the Commission for exemption from the requirement to separately report
				  residential, business, and combined residential and business results for these
				  six objectives.]
The quarterly report shall be filed no later than twenty (20)
				  days after the last day of the quarter covered by the report and the person
				  submitting the report shall verify its accuracy under oath. Such verification
				  shall be in the following form:
VERIFICATION UNDER OATH
REGARDING ACCURACY OF SERVICE OBJECTIVES REPORT
I ,____________________________, state and attest that the
				  attached Service Objectives Report is filed on behalf of
				  _____________________________________ (Name of Public Utility as certificated)
				  as required by North Carolina Utilities Commission Rule R9-8; that I have
				  reviewed said Report and, in the exercise of due diligence, have made
				  reasonable inquiry into the accuracy of the information provided therein; and
				  that, to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, all of the
				  information contained therein is accurate and true, no material information or
				  fact has been knowingly omitted or misstated therein, and all of the
				  information contained in said Report has been prepared and presented in
				  accordance with all applicable North Carolina General Statutes, Commission
				  Rules, and Commission Orders.
1Companies are not required to
				  report statistics for business customer groups that are not served by service
				  or repair centers, but on an individual account basis. In the first report
				  under the new rule, the company should note what business customer groups are
				  excluded. If the company should thereafter change what business groups are
				  excluded, it should notate the change on the first subsequent report.
__________________________________
Signature of Person Making Verification
__________________________________
Job Title
__________________________________
Date
Subscribed and sworn before me this the ___________ day of
				  _________________ , 20___.
__________________________________
Notary Public
My Commission Expires: ____________
COMMISSION NOTE:
A website reporting section
				  will be added by the Commission at a later date after the Parties have
				  negotiated all of the specific details.