CPUC Decision 08-10-016 ordered the posting of data on the Consumer Affairs Branch's (CAB) contacts with consumers who communicate in a language other than English. The Commission uses the term “Limited English Proficient (LEP)” to describe this group of consumers. This webpage serves that purpose by providing current and archived data on CAB contacts with limited-English-proficient consumers.
Oprima aquí para accesar esta página de la red en Espanol.
Data Explanation for Tables
Complaints and Inquiries Made to the Consumer Affairs Branch in Languages Other Than English
The source of this data is the Consumer Affairs Branch of the California Public Utilities Commission. Data is compiled in the Consumer Information Management System, also known as “CIMS.” The data is a compilation of consumer complaints and inquiries, also known as “contacts,” related to individual telephone companies that are regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. The tables report only the contacts that were made to the Consumer Affairs Branch in languages other than English. These contacts in languages other than English are categorized as limited-English-proficiency or “LEP contacts” and are reported by company for the years 2009 and 2010.
The tables for 2009 and 2010 [PDF for 2009, PDF for 2010] provide a tool for comparison between telephone companies. The companies listed in the tables are organized in descending order starting with the company that has the highest ratio of LEP contacts that can be explained by the following:
- The column titled “Contacts” represent the ratio of the number of LEP contacts that the Consumer Affairs Branch received about a telephone company, divided by a normalization factor for that company's size that is based upon a unit of 100,000 access lines or equivalent. “LEP contacts” include both inquiries and complaints about a company.
The column titled “Utility Type” contains a list of codes that represent he authority granted to provide a common set of services (in this instance, telecommunications services) to the public. These codes are defined in the Utility Type Definition Table.
The tables for 2009 and 2010 also report a breakdown by “% Complaints” and “% Inquiries," which represent the percentages of LEP complaints and LEP inquiries, respectively, out of the total number of contacts for each company. This is a helpful breakdown of the total number of LEP contacts reported for a company.
The Consumer Affairs Branch, also known as “CAB,” welcomes your feedback and suggestions for improvement regarding these tables.