23 CAR § 466-514. Billing corrections

(a) Interruption and outage. After an interruption or outage of local service of more than twenty-four (24) hours, an LEC shall refund a portion of the monthly charge for the number of days without service. (b) Procedures for correcting an overbilling. (1) When an LEC has overbilled a customer, the LEC shall explain the reason for the correction and refund the amount of the overbilling within thirty (30) days after discovering or being notified of the error. (2) The refund shall be credited to the customer’s account unless the customer requests otherwise. (3) If the overbilling was the fault of the LEC, the LEC shall pay the customer interest on the overbilled amount. (c) Procedures for correcting an underbilling. (1) When an LEC discovers it has charged a customer less than it should have, the LEC shall explain the error and offer a delayed payment agreement to correct it. (2) When an LEC underbills a customer over one (1) or more billing periods, the LEC must allow the customer at least that many billing periods to pay the correct amount under a delayed payment agreement. (3) If the underbilling was the fault of the customer, the LEC may charge interest for the period of time during which the underbilling occurred. (4) If the underbilling was caused by unauthorized use of service or tampering with an LEC’s equipment, the LEC does not have to offer a delayed payment agreement. (5) An LEC does not have to correct an underbilling if the cost of correcting the billing is not economically feasible. (d) Tampering. (1) If a customer tampers with an LEC’s equipment, the LEC may charge a reasonable amount for: (A) Damage to the equipment; and (B) Estimated service taken. (2) This is in addition to the remedies in 23 CAR § 466-401(b)(3), 23 CAR § 466-402(b)(2)(A), and 23 CAR § 466-601(6). (3) The LEC may base the estimate on the customer’s average lawful usage for the most recent twelve-month period. (4) If those figures are not available, the LEC shall base the estimate on the class average.