1/19/23, 10:03 PM MPSC sets public hearing on plan for new 679 area code overlay for Detroit's

overlay for Detroit's 313 area code

MPSC

MPSC sets public hearing on plan for new 679

area code overlay for Detroit's 313 area code
January 19, 2023

Media contact: Matt Helms 517-284-8300  

Customer Assistance: 800-292-9555  

The Detroit area’s 313 area code is projected to run out of unassigned telephone
numbers in 2025, so the Michigan Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing
in Detroit in March to take public comment on a proposal to add an overlay area code
covering the city and several of its immediate suburbs (Case No. U-21337).

The Commission today set a public hearing for March 9, 2023, 1:30-3 p.m. at Wayne
County Community College District’s downtown campus, in the Frank Hayden
Community Room #236, 1001 W. Fort St in Detroit. An administrative law judge will
conduct the hearing, and MPSC Staff will provide a presentation outlining the issue.

The 313 area code is projected to be exhausted during the third quarter of 2025, which
means most phone numbers within the area code are in use, with few to no new
numbers available to assign, aside from those returned to the numbering inventory and
reassigned through standard industry practice.

That will require applying a new area code that will cover the same geographic territory
of the 313 area code, without splitting the current area code boundaries or requiring a
change of numbers for existing phone users by moving existing 313 phones to a new
area code. Rather, current 313 numbers will remain in place while new phone customers
in the same territory may be assigned numbers with the 679 area code.

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The 313 area code covers Detroit, its enclaves Hamtramck and Highland Park, and the
suburbs of Allen Park, Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, Ecorse, the Grosse Pointes,
Inkster, Lincoln Park, Redford Township, River Rouge and Taylor.

Besides having two area codes serving these towns, adding the 679 overlay also will
require phone users to include area codes for local calls within and between the two
area codes — meaning everyone with a 313 or 679 phone number will have to dial at
least 10 digits, even for local calls. These calls will continue to be billed as local calls. This
change will require the reprogramming of some devices such as auto dialing
equipment, medical devices and home security systems to accommodate the additional
digits if that equipment is currently programmed to only dial 7 digits.

No changes to customer bills will occur because of this process.

The North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), the agency responsible
for administering telephone numbering plans in the United States, Canada and multiple
Caribbean countries, filed a petition with the MPSC in November seeking to implement
the 679 overlay. While the overlay was initially sought in 2000, federal number policy
changes and numbering conservation efforts delayed the need to implement it. The
current NANPA petition explains that customer education, dialing plan best practices,
and technical milestones have changed considerably in the past two decades since the
overlay was initially sought, and requests some changes to the old plan previously
approved by the Commission to bring it up to date.

The Michigan Telecommunications Act grants the MPSC, which provides regulatory
support for telecommunications providers, the authority to approve or reject area code
changes in Michigan. The new area code would be phased into use, with dates to be
determined, should the MPSC approve the overlay.

Any person may attend the public hearing and offer comments on the overlay plan. The
MPSC encourages interested parties to become involved in the proceedings, and any
person may present data, views, questions and arguments regarding the plan. 

Written comments regarding the plan also may be submitted by 5 p.m. March 20, 2023,
by mail to Executive Secretary, Michigan Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 30221,
Lansing, MI 48909, or by email to mpscedockets@michigan.gov. All comments will be
made part of the public case file and should reference Case No. U-21337. NANPA and
members of the industry who assisted in developing the relief plan will then be given
until March 30 to file responses to the substantive comments.

To accommodate the potential 19-month implementation schedule, the Commission

will issue a final order by May 31, 2023. 

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CONSUMERS ENERGY AMENDED SOLAR POWER CONTRACTS APPROVED

The Commission today approved amended power purchase agreements, or PPAs,

between Consumers Energy and three solar energy providers (Case No. U-20165). The
amended agreements, with Calhoun Solar Energy, Cereal City Solar, and Jackson County
Solar, arise from interruptions related to supply chain challenges, inflation and
interconnection delays that threatened the projects’ viability. The amendments increase
the energy purchase prices in each PPA while shortening the terms of the contracts.
According to Consumers, the costs to customers will decrease by $2.4 million in the
Calhoun Solar PPA, $4.6 million in the Cereal City PPA, and $46.3 million in the Jackson
County PPA.

COMMISSION DENIES BID FOR REHEARING IN DTE ELECTRIC PSCR CASE

The Commission denied a petition for a rehearing in DTE Electric Co.’s 2020 power
supply cost recovery (PSCR) reconciliation (Case No. U-20528). The Association for
Businesses Advocating Tariff Equity (ABATE) had sought a rehearing of the
Commission’s rejection of ABATE’s recommendation that the utility offset capacity-
related power supply costs from zonal deliverability benefit credits and zonal
deliverability charges in DTE Electric’s PSCR reconciliation, related to an extended
outage at Unit 3 of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant. The Commission found that
the record clearly addresses ABATE’s arguments and that the Commission committed
no error in adopting the recommendation of the administrative law judge on the issue. 

COMMISSION SEEKS ADDITIONAL COMMENTS IN MI POWER GRID EXPLORATION OF

DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATIVE BUSINESS MODELS

As part of the MPSC’s ongoing New Technologies and Business Models workgroup in
the MPSC’s MI Power Grid initiative and its examination of the development of
alternative business models, the Commission today summarized comments it received
from stakeholders on behind-the-meter distributed energy resources and asked
commenters to address several additional questions (Case No. U-20898). Those
interested in filing comments must do so by 5 p.m. Feb. 17, 2023, by mail to Executive
Secretary, Michigan Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 30221, Lansing, MI 48909, or by
email to mpscedockets@michigan.gov. All comments should reference Case No. U-
20898. This MI Power Grid workgroup was established to address preparing for
opportunities and challenges associated with commercialization of new technologies
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and business models such as electric vehicles, electric storage, microgrids, space and
water heating using heat pumps, and others still under development.

MPSC OKs CONSUMERS ENERGY’S PSCR PLAN AND 5-YEAR FORECAST

The MPSC today approved Consumers Energy Co.’s power supply cost recovery plan for
the 12-months period ending Dec. 31, 2022, and accepted the utility’s 5-year forecast
(Case No. U-21048). Today’s order approves a 2022 PSCR factor of $0.00177 per kilowatt-
hour. Intervenors in the case were the Michigan Department of Attorney General;
Citizens Utility Board of Michigan; the Association of Businesses Advocating Tariff Equity;
Residential Customer Group; Michigan Power LP, and Ada Cogeneration LP. MPSC Staff
also participated.

To look up cases from today’s meeting, access the MPSC’s E-Dockets filing system.

Watch recordings of the MPSC’s meetings on the MPSC’s YouTube channel.

For information about the MPSC, visit www.michigan.gov/mpsc, sign up for its monthly
newsletter or other listservs. Follow the Commission on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

DISCLAIMER: This document was prepared to aid the public’s understanding of certain
matters before the Commission and is not intended to modify, supplement, or be a
substitute for the Commission’s orders. The Commission’s orders are the official action of
the Commission.

###

MI Newswire Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs

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MPSC sets public hearing on plan for new 679 area code overlay for Detroit's 313
area code
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