1997 surcharge case Customers owe GT&T nothing - PUC
Stabroek News
October 13, 2002
GT&T has already collected a vast portion of money owed to it under a 1995 rate dispute and as such there will be no surcharges on customers' bills says the Public Utilities Commission.
The PUC in a press release reacting to the July 31 Court of Appeal decision upholding Guyana Telephone and Telegraph's method of collection, says this would simply allow the phone company to keep the $1,426,627,914 of the $1,485,633,313 it claimed as lost revenue. The balance is $59M.
Efforts to contact GT&T for a response on Friday proved futile. GT&T had begun collecting the lost revenue via a surcharge since 1997 but ceased doing so on December 31, 1999 following a High Court ruling by Justice Claudette Singh. This decision was challenged by GT&T in the Court of Appeal.
The additional rates were owed to the telephone company following an October 1995 order by the PUC which temporarily reduced the fixed final rates of international charges.
Dissatisfied with the process used in reducing these rates, GT&T applied to the High Court for a writ quashing the reduction order.
Singh's decision was based on a writ filed by the Consumers' Advisory Bureau (CAB) in April 1997 in which it sought to prevent GT&T from collecting the surcharge without the commission's approval. GT&T appealed that decision and won the case this July.