Section 735.70  Customer Billing

a)         Billing Procedures

            Bills to customers shall be issued on a monthly basis.  Bills shall be itemized as set forth in subsection (b) of this Section.

b)         Itemization of Charges

1)         All bills for residential and single-line business customers shall contain an itemization of charges.  Itemization of every monthly billing shall include, but not be limited to:

A)        exchange access (basic local service) as requested by customer;

B)        local service;

C)        extended area service;

D)        equipment;

E)        enhanced and other local services;

F)         the period of time for which the local service and equipment charges apply;

G)        if a local exchange company has assumed responsibility of collection for toll calls, it shall include an itemization of all toll calls charged to the account including, but not limited to the date and time of the call, the rate which applied to the call, the length of the call in minutes, the destination of the call, or point of origin for collect and/or third party calls;

H)        the phone number of the appropriate company business office;

I)         the due date of the bill; and

J)         the separate listing of the following:

i)          additional charges due to state messages tax,

ii)         municipal messages tax,

iii)        municipal consumer tax, and

iv)        federal excise tax.

2)         Upon request, a company shall provide its customers with an itemization of service and equipment charges (but excluding message unit charges, as provided for in the company's tariff) once every calendar year free of charge.  This itemization shall also include the phone number of the local company business office which the customer may contact to receive further information concerning the service and equipment charges listed on such itemization.

3)         Where a company is able to provide an itemized billing for local message detail, the customer may request the company to provide such message unit detail for one billing period free of charge one time every six months or if a dispute exists as to the accuracy of the bill.  This waiver of charges shall not apply to customers who contract with the company for monthly message detail.

c)         Delivery of Bills

            Customer bills sent through the United State mail shall be in envelopes and shall include return envelopes for payment of customer bills, unless the customer has elected to pay the bill electronically.

d)         Transferring Billing for Past Due Service

            Charges for business service shall not be transferred to a bill for residential service, nor shall charges for residential service be transferred to a bill for business service.  A company may transfer billing to another account of the same customer of the same class (business or residential) when a final bill remains unpaid after the due date.

e)         Adjustments for Interrupted Service

            In the event that a customer's basic (i.e., residence, business, Private Branch Exchange (PBX)) service is interrupted and remains out of service for more than 12 hours after being reported to or found to be out of service by a company, appropriate adjustments shall be made to the customer's account upon request with a minimum of credit for 24 hours.  The adjustment shall be the pro rata part of the month's charge for local exchange service for the period of days service was inoperative and shall be accomplished by a credit on a subsequent bill for telephone service. A check shall be issued if the final bill shows no amount owed.  This provision shall not apply when the service interruption is caused by:

1)         the negligence or willful act of the customer,

2)         customer provided facilities, or

3)         electric power failure where the customer furnishes such electric power.

f)         Third Number Billing

            On third number calls the operator may attempt to verify the authority to bill to the third number by calling the third number to get permission to bill the call to that number.  Any third number calls that are billed to but denied by the billed party shall be removed from the bill unless these calls were verified in accordance with this paragraph.

g)         Unbilled Service

1)         Bills for service supplied by a company must be rendered within one (1) year of the date such service was supplied.  No customer shall be liable for any amount of unbilled service after one (1) year.  A company is not restricted to the above one (1) year limitation on unbilled service if a company has reason to believe that the customer used a device or scheme to obtain service without payment and where the company has so notified the customer prior to disconnection.

2)         When delinquency occurs following the issuance of a bill for previously unbilled service, except where the customer has avoided payment as described in the preceding paragraph, a company shall review the bill with the customer, and shall offer to accept payments toward the liquidation of the amount of unbilled service over a period mutually agreed to by the company and customer.  This period of time shall be at least as long as the period over which the unbilled or underbilled service was provided.

h)         Refunds

1)         In the event that a customer pays a bill as submitted by a telephone utility and the billing is later found to be incorrect due to an error either in charging more than the published rate, in measuring the quantity or volume of service provided, or in charging for the incorrect class of service, the utility shall refund the overcharge with interest from the date of overpayment by the customer.

2)         The rate of interest shall be the rate as established by the Commission to be paid on deposits in Section 735.120 (h) (1) of this Part.

3)         The refund shall be accomplished by a credit on a subsequent bill for telephone service, or by check if the account is final, or if so requested by the customer.

i)          Special Toll Bills

1)         If a customer accumulates unusually high charges for toll calls in a short period of time, and that customer's credit record indicates that satisfactory payment may not be made on this amount, a company may issue a special toll bill.  Such special toll bills shall be due ten (10) days from the issuing date of the bill, seven (7) days if delivered by hand.

2)         A company may render a special toll bill to a residential customer only during the first twenty-four (24) months of that customer's telephone service.  No such limitation, however, shall be imposed in the case of business customers.

3)         For the purpose of this subsection (i), an unusually high toll bill shall be considered to be an amount in excess of 175 percent of the average of the past three months' toll bills or an average toll bill for that class of service if three months' actual data is not available.

j)          Electronic Billing and Payment

            If the company offers electronic billing, customers may elect to have their bills sent electronically.  Such bills shall be transmitted with instructions for payment.  Information sent electronically shall be deemed to satisfy any requirement in this Part that such information be printed or written on a customer bill.  Bills rendered in accordance with this Section may be paid electronically.

(Source:  Amended at 18 Ill. Reg. 4146, effective March 15, 1994)