Public Service Commission
PSC ANNOUNCES PUBLIC MEETINGS ON AREA CODE 270

The Kentucky Public Service Commission will hold meetings across western Kentucky to receive public input on options for addressing the shortage of new numbers in area code 270.
      The public meetings will be held Oct. 23 in Hopkinsville, Oct. 24 in Paducah and Henderson, Oct. 25 in Bowling Green and Elizabethtown and Nov. 6 in Owensboro. A detailed schedule with times and locations follows at the end of this news release.
      “We hope that people will attend these meetings to share their views with the PSC,” Chairman Mark David Goss said. “This decision could impose a cost on businesses and affect people’s daily lives, so we want to hear from residential and commercial customers alike.”
       The North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA), which is responsible for allocating phone numbers to telecommunication providers, notified the PSC in August that area code 270 is likely to run out of available phone numbers in late 2007. A new area code must be created in western Kentucky prior to the number exhaustion date.
      The PSC has opened a proceeding to examine the options.
      New area codes can be established in one of two ways.
      An existing area code can be split geographically. That has been the history in Kentucky. Area code 270, which covers the western half of Kentucky, was created from a portion of area code 502 in April 1999 and area code 859 was carved out of area code 606 a year later.
      A new area code also can be created as an “overlay” on an existing area code. This option, which has been used mostly in major metropolitan areas, requires 10-digit dialing for local calls.
      Documents in the area code 270 case can be found on the PSC Web site, which is psc.ky.gov. The case number is 2006-00357.
      The PSC is an agency within the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet. It regulates more than 1,500 gas, water, sewer, electric and telecommunication utilities operating in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and has approximately 110 employees.

AREA CODE 270 PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULE

Day     Date    Time     City/Venue

M        10/23  6 pm     HOPKINSVILLE
                      CDT      Auditorium
                                  Hopkinsville Community College
                                  720 North Drive

T        10/24  11 am     PADUCAH
                     CDT       Robert Cherry Civic Center
                                  2701Park Avenue

T        10/24  6 pm      HENDERSON
                     CDT        Fine Arts Center
                                   Henderson Community College
                                   2660 South Green Street

W       10/25  11 am     BOWLING GREEN
                     CDT        Auditorium
                                  Carroll Knicely Conference Center
                                  Western Kentucky University
                                  2355 Nashville Road

W      10/25    6 pm     ELIZABETHTOWN
                      EDT      Pritchard Community Center
                                  404 South Mulberry Street

M       11/6     4 pm    OWENSBORO
                     CST      Blandford Hall
                                Owensboro Community & Tech. College
                                4800 New Hartford Road