Minnesota regulators advance CenturyLink Service Quality probe

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MNPUC) agreed with the requests from CWA, the Department of Commerce, and the Office of the Attorney General—Residential Utilities Division (OAG) and voted 5-0 to refer the investigation over to the Office of Administrative Hearings to hold a series of public hearings on CenturyLink’s service quality. 

In April 2020, CWA filed a formal complaint with the MNPUC over CenturyLink’s dilapidated plant condition, failure to meet service quality and consumer protection rules, and its plan to eliminate almost half of the Technicians it employs to maintain communications services to the Twin Cities region. Further investigations by the Department of Commerce and the OAG exposed serious service quality deficiencies and deteriorations in outside plant in violation of relevant Commission service quality rules related to plant investment, maintenance, and repair. 

Members of the public may participate in the following six public and virtual hearings to offer oral or written testimony: 

Public Hearing – Thief River Falls May 16, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.
Public Hearing – Hibbing May 17, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.
Public Hearing – WebEx May 19, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.
Public Hearing - WebEx May 22, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.
Public Hearing – Marshall May 24, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.
Public Hearing - Owatonna May 25, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.

Links:

First prehearing order in docket MPUC P-421/C-20-432 (Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Mar. 6, 2023) 

Commerce asks PUC to order improvements to CenturyLink service (Cook County News-Herald, Dec. 16, 2022)