411 CALLS GET MORE EXPENSIVE.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Pacific Bell customers will have to pay almost twice as much for directory assistance calls - and get fewer of them for free - under a ruling Thursday from the state Public Utilities Commission.

In a 3-2 vote, the commission allowed the company to charge 46 cents for each 411 call, up from 25 cents a call. Customers will be given three free directory assistance calls a month, down from the five they get free now.

Businesses lose the two free calls a month they had under the old system.

The new rates will take effect in two to four weeks.

The decision was assailed by consumer groups and local businesses, which said it was too much to pay for such a simple service.

``I think it's outrageous,'' said Milo Speriglio, director of Nick Harris Detectives Inc., a Van Nuys investigations agency that uses directory assistance 30 to 40 times a day. ``I remember a time you used to dial 411, you got it free.''

The increase seems especially stiff because the information is computerized and takes little actual labor from the operators, he said.

``You give them a name, they press a button, the machine gives them a report,'' he said. ``I doubt they spend 15 seconds of time.''

But Pacific Bell representatives said the company was losing money under the old rate, which had not changed since 1984. They also said long-distance companies often charge around a dollar for information calls.

``While increases are never popular, Pacific Bell customers punching 411 still have access to the best bargain for local directory assistance,'' said PacBell spokesman Steve Getzug.

And 75 percent of the company's customers will not notice the difference because they don't make more than three directory assistance calls a month, he said. Half of the customers don't make any 411 calls at all.

Directory assistance calls for rival GTE cost consumers 35 cents, according to the PUC.

PUC officials said Pacific Bell's cost to provide directory assistance is 39 cents a call, and the commission allowed the 18 percent markup to cover profit, as well as advertising and billing costs. Getzug said the 39-cent figure was a wholesale rate, not an actual cost, but he could not provide another figure.

A consumer group disagreed, saying the company was covering its costs and making a profit under the old rate.

``It's not an increase that's justified by the facts of the case,'' said Mindy Spatt, spokeswoman for The Utility Reform Network. ``We presented evidence to the commission showing Pacific Bell is already earning its costs. It was not underpriced.''

The loss of free calls is a hidden increase, she said. A customer who makes, say, eight directory assistance calls a month would have paid 75 cents under the old system, but will now pay $2.30 a month under the new rates, an increase of more than 200 percent, Spatt said.

And with the proliferation of area codes, more people are making directory assistance calls today, she said.

About 41,000 people expressed opposition to the rate increase, through e-mails, phone calls, letters and appearances at several months of public hearings, Spatt said.

Pacific Bell had originally requested an increase to 50 cents, with authorization to eventually go to $1.10. According to the PUC, 19 states allow companies to charge more than 50 cents for directory assistance calls.