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Show Ma Bell plans Rate Increase Monthly local rates for telephone customers in Cedar City will increase moderately on August 7, according to Mountain Bell's District Customer Services Manager. Phil Selander explains that local service rates are determined by the number of main telephones which can be called without long distance charges. Because the number of main telephones has increased over the years, the Cedar City exchange is placed in a larger rate group. According to Selander, Cedar City customers could call 5,173 main station telephones as of April 1979. A main station is the primary home or business telephone, connected directly with the central switching office, on either an individual or party line. The figure does not include extension phones. Cedar City was previously in Rate Group 3, which has a base rate of $4.88 per month for one-party residence service. The increase in the number of main stations puts the exchange in Rate Group 4, which has a residential monthly base Tate of $5.15. Monthly individual business line rates will increase in-crease from $10.72 to $11.27. Rates for other services will go up by similar amounts, with the exception of PBX trunk lines, which will cost 96 cents more. A customer's ability to call more telephones without a long distance charge is a good measure of the value of phone service, according to Selander. "With prudent management, we continue to provide service at rates well below the costs of other goods and services, especially in these inflationary in-flationary times," he remarks. Ten years ago, there were 2,930 total telephones in the Cedar City local calling area. The 1969 rate for an individual residence telephone was $4.50. The individual business phone rate in 1969 was $9.90. In ten years, the monthly cost of basic, private line residential telephone service was increased only 13 per cent. The cost of a single business lien phone has gone up only 12 per cent. Selander says this rate group change applies to customers whose telephone numbers begin with 586. |