(Columbia-AP) -- BellSouth has settled a lawsuit with the state that means the phone company won't raise rates in South Carolina until at least 2007.The Consumer Affairs Department says BellSouth customers who had service with the telephone company from 1996 to 1998 should get a credit on their bills of between 35 dollars and 40 dollars this summer. Only current BellSouth customers will get the refund.The Consumer Affairs Department says rates have been frozen since 2000 under a different agreement.Acting Consumer Advocate Elliott Elam says the settlement brings both immediate and ongoing rate benefits to residential and business customers in South Carolina.The settlement ends a ten-year fight between BellSouth and the consumer advocate that began with the Public Service Commission agreeing to no longer examine the phone company's earnings.
BellSouth Settles Lawsuit with S.C.
BellSouth has settled a lawsuit with the state that means the phone company won't raise rates in South Carolina until at least 2007.
