Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 9, 1993                   TAG: 9311090110
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

C&P CUSTOMERS PAY FOR OPERATOR ERROR

Last April and May that number was $3.1 million.

That's how much the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. says it underbilled some of its Virginia customers, undercharging for calls to directory assistance.

The error during those two months was caused by a programming mistake in C&P's computerized billing system, explained company spokesman Paul Miller. C&P estimates that roughly 20 percent of its 2.3 million Virginia customers were affected.

The company intends to correct its mistake on bills that it mails to customers this month.

C&P will give customers a credit for everything they were billed for directory assistance calls in April and May and then re-bill them for the correct number of calls.

The company allows its residential and buiness customers three free calls to directory assistance each month and charges 29 cents for each directory assistance call over that number.

Miller said the company is still trying to discover the cause of the computer foul-up.

C&P notified the State Corporation Commission's staff of the situation but does not have to have SCC approval to recover the amount lost to the billing error, SCC spokesman Ken Schrad said.

The company could not provide information on how many customers in the Roanoke area were affected by the mistake.

C&P has charged customers for directory assistance calls for more than 15 years, Miller said. The number of free monthly calls was reduced from eight to three on Oct. 1, 1990.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.