DR 98-027
                                     
                               BELL ATLANTIC
                                     
                    Amendment to Special Contract with 
                       CFX Bank for Centrex Service
                                     
             Order Granting Motion for Proprietary Treatment 
                                     
                          O R D E R  N O.  22,873
                                     
                              March 16, 1998
                                     
         On March 3, 1998, New England Telephone and Telegraph
     Company, d/b/a Bell Atlantic (Bell Atlantic), filed with the New
     Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (Commission), pursuant to
     RSA 378:18, an amendment to its special contract with CFX Bank 
     for Centrex Service.  
         The Commission approved the original special contract
     for Centrex service with CFX Bank in DR 97-055 by Order No.
     22,557, (April 15, 1997).  For this amended contract, Bell
     Atlantic filed a contract overview, the signed proposed amended
     contract and a cost analysis of the proposal.  On the same date,
     Bell Atlantic filed a Motion for Confidential Treatment to exempt
     from disclosure portions of overview, the amended special
     contract and supporting materials (the Information) from public
     disclosure pursuant to RSA 91-A and PUC 204.05 and 204.06. 
         Bell Atlantic filed the amended special contract in
     redacted form as well as full, unredacted copies.  Pursuant to
     Puc 204.05(b), the Information is not disclosed to the public and
     is maintained as provided in 204.06(d) until the Commission rules
     on the Motion for Confidential Treatment.
         In its motion, Bell Atlantic states that the
     Information contains customer-specific, competitively sensitive
     data that is within the exemptions from disclosure set forth in
     RSA 91-A:5,IV and N.H. Admin. Rules, Puc 204.06, including
     specific component costs, rates for specific customer locations,
     opportunities for growth, and system and engineering features. 
     Specifically, Bell Atlantic avers that the Information is
     Customer Proprietary Network Information, release of which would
     compromise CFX Bank's business plan, revealing financial status,
     plans for growth, telecommunications strategies, etc.
         Bell Atlantic also states that Centrex is a competitive
     service.  Accordingly, Bell Atlantic avers that it regularly
     seeks to prevent dissemination of this type of information, as
     required by Puc 204.06(c).  Bell Atlantic's motion presents facts
     demonstrating that the Information meets the requirements of Puc
     204.06(c), giving evidence showing the Information is not general
     public knowledge or published elsewhere and that measures have
     been taken to prevent dissemination in the ordinary course of
     business.  A Bell Atlantic Pricing Analyst, Kathleen Reilly,
     attests that the Information is compiled from internal data bases
     that are not publicly available and which are protected from
     dissemination either by Bell Atlantic employees or by non-Bell
     Atlantic employees.
         Recognizing that the Information is critical to the
     review of the special contract by the Commission, the Commission
     Staff and the Office of Consumer Advocate, we find that the
     Information contained in the filing is sensitive commercial
     information deserving protection.  Because many of Bell
     Atlantic's competitors have no obligation to obtain Commission
     approval for similar contracts, the need to protect this
     Information is evident.  Based on the company's representations,
     under the balancing test we have applied in prior cases, e.g.,Re
     New England Telephone Company (Auditel), 80 NHPUC 437 (1995); Re
     Bell Atlantic, Order No. 22,851 (February 17, 1998); Re
     EnergyNorth Natural Gas, Inc., Order No. 22,859 (February 24,
     1998), we find that the benefits to Bell Atlantic of non-disclosure in this case outweigh the benefits to the public of
     disclosure.   
         Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
         ORDERED, that Bell Atlantic's Motion for Proprietary
     Treatment is GRANTED; and it is
         FURTHER ORDERED, that this Order is subject to the
     ongoing rights of the Commission, on its own motion or on the
     motion of Staff, any party or any other member of the public, to
     reconsider this Order in light of RSA 91-A, should circumstances
     so warrant.
         By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
     Hampshire this sixteenth day of March, 1998.
     
     
                                                                                       Douglas L. Patch                                   Bruce B. Ellsworth         
            Chairman                 Commissioner            
     
     Attested by:
     
     
     
                                      
     Thomas B. Getz
     Executive Director and Secretary