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Wash. UTC Fines Lumen for Raising Rates Without Notice

Washington state assessed Lumen’s CenturyLink a $226,000 penalty for raising customer rates without telling regulators, in violation of a 2014 alternative regulation plan. The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission upheld the penalty last week, it said Monday. The telco violated…

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the 2014 agreement last year, the UTC said. CenturyLink admitted to violations in June but sought mitigation of the proposed penalty due to COVID-19 personnel reductions and other reasons. Worker shortages caused by the pandemic don’t relieve the telco of its obligations, the commission decided in docket UT-220397. The commission rejected the company’s arguments that consumers weren’t harmed and that the agency improperly calculated the number of violations. Lumen declined to comment Monday.