The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) has completed its mandated annual review under a price-cap plan elected in 1994 by Wisconsin Bell, Inc., saying the company must reduce rates for intraLATA message telecommunications service (MTS) under the price-cap formula. (It noted, however, that Wisconsin Bell had filed a separate application to suspend the price-cap formula for MTS, the only service subject to price changes under the plan.)
The PSC refined operating components of the pricing mechanism, including the company-specific benchmarks for service quality as well as for infrastructure investment and deployment. Using a
3-percent productivity offset against an increase of 2.88 percent in the gross domestic product price index observed during the 1994-95 rate period, the PSC found a price reduction necessary for MTS to maintain a price-cap index of 99.94, as compared to the initial index of 100.