Phone Rates May Rise

The Massachusetts Public Utilities Commission announced Monday that it will allow $93.6 million of a proposed $200 million telephone rate hike to become effective within two weeks.

John F. Caunter, a public relations superintendent for the New England Telephone Company, said yesterday the company is still deciding how to allocate the increase among the different classes of service. Any change in the cost of centrex system users like Harvard should be announced later in the week.

The commission's decision "is grossly inadequate and unrealistic," Bruce Harriman '50, New England Telephone's general manager, said Monday, claiming that the commission had "played games with numbers."

Harold J. Keohane '60, chairman of the utilities commission, said that customers "should no longer be required to subsidize free telephone service for management personnel, retirees and employees who have been with the company for over 30 years."

Keohane also said Monday the decision prohibits the continuation of the phone company's practice of passing lobbying costs on to the consumer, because the phone company has not shown that lobbying expenditures benefit the consumer.