Panel to Hear Plan for Area Code Relief

State utilities regulators on Thursday are expected to hear three area code relief backup plans in the event number-conservation measures fail to keep pace with demand for new numbers in the San Fernando Valley.

The state Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to consider the proposals at its regular monthly meeting at 10 a.m. at the Junipero Serra State Building in downtown Los Angeles.

All three proposals are last-resort options should the PUC’s crucial number-conservation program fail to alleviate the need for an area code split or overlay in the 818 region.

Regulators, consumer advocates and industry leaders all say they don’t know how effective the conservation measures would be or how long existing area codes would remain intact.

Still, PUC officials are moving ahead with several complex plans--including number rationing and forcing phone companies to return unused numbers--to preserve area codes statewide.

On Thursday, the five-member panel is expected to hear a proposal by Commissioner Joel Z. Hyatt that would split the 818 area after all number-conservation measures are exhausted. The north and East Valley would keep 818, while an area from Agoura Hills to Van Nuys would get a new area code.

A rival plan proposed by Commissioner Josiah Neeper proposes an overlay. Under that plan, all new numbers in the 818 area would get a new--as yet undetermined--area code, while existing numbers would keep the old one. But callers would have to dial the area code and the phone number, even for local calls.

A third proposal by Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pulsifer would also implement the split but only after a state-conducted number-utilization study.

In separate draft decisions, Pulsifer and Hyatt both argue a split would be less disruptive to residents and business owners than an overlay.

In a letter to the PUC released late Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Antonio R. Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) urged the commissioners to support the Hyatt proposal.

Both lawmakers were instrumental in pressing for a rollback of a controversial 310/424 area code overlay on the Westside and in the South Bay after a protracted, grass-roots protest by angry business owners and residents.

The PUC voted to rescind the 310 region overlay on Sept. 16 and vowed to adopt ways to slow area code changes statewide.

On the state level, Knox shepherded legislation through the Legislature, calling for stricter controls on area code overlays and splits. The bill, the Consumers Area Code Relief Act, awaits action by Gov. Gray Davis.

Villaraigosa requested intervention from Vice President Al Gore at the FCC, which has the power to grant broader authority to states on area code numbering issues.