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Article: PUC works on phone verification mix-up: Low-income users with the Lifeline project reinstated after erroneously being declared ineligible.
- Article from:
- Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA)
- Article date:
- November 10, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Contra Costa Times. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Rick Jurgens
Nov. 10--Some low-income Californians lost subsidized telephone service after a private contractor sent out eligibility forms that some recipients mistook for junk mail, state regulators said Thursday. The forms were part of a new federally mandated verification program that the state Public Utilities Commission suspended after receiving written appeals at the rate of 300 to 500 per day from affected low-income people. They had been declared ineligible for the California Lifeline program and hit with higher telephone rates, regulators said. As of Nov. 1, all the disqualified people have been restored to the program, although current ...