Consumer Groups Urge CPUC to Continue Sprint LifeLine Probe
Consumer groups supported Sprint repaying $41.7 million to California LifeLine for erroneously received reimbursements, and urged the California Public Utilities Commission to keep open its investigation. The CPUC plans to vote April 15 on resolution UEB-008 to adopt a settlement…
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with Sprint and acquirer T-Mobile. The CPUC Enforcement Division alleged Sprint failed to comply with federal non-usage rules from July 2017 to August 2019 by claiming reimbursement for LifeLine discounts provided to about 3 million participants who should have been de-enrolled. Under the settlement, Sprint agreed to pay it back with interest, and T-Mobile agreed to compliance measures over the next year. The CPUC learned of the issue after talking to the Oregon Public Utility Commission about its investigation finding the same Sprint problem in its state, which led to the FCC adopting a $200 million settlement with T-Mobile (see 2011040050). The CPUC should approve the resolution and keep the probe open, said The Utility Reform Network, Greenlining Institute and Center for Accessible Technology, in comments emailed Thursday to the service list in docket R.20-02-008. “If customers were denied services or were delayed in receiving services,” require the carrier “to present a plan to provide remedies and restitution directly to those consumers or ... to present a plan for an equitable remedy that could provide resources for outreach and education to benefit the program.”