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Bell Atlantic is overcharging Pennsylvania consumers more than $23.5 million each year, as a result of overstating its equipment investments to regulators, according to a report from The Allegheny Institute.

"The Economic Impact on Pennsylvania of FCC Audit Findings of Missing Telephone Equipment" is based on two FCC sources: the FCC audit of all RBOCs made public last March, and the Automated Reporting Management Information System report. By studying the information in the two reports, The Allegheny Institute calculated a state-by-state account of overcharges and the impact of those charges on an RBOC's net income, said Jerry Browyer, president of the institute.

A Bell Atlantic spokesman dismissed the report as "based on an extremely flawed audit that even the FCC doesn't use. Our investments in Pennsylvania have no effect on customer rates."

Bell Atlantic also issued a public statement calling the report the "latest AT&T smear attempt," as the institute is backed by AT&T.

"It's nothing short of cheap sensationalism," said the spokesman.

The report indicates that RBOCs in other states have larger "excess customer charges" than Bell Atlantic, but the institute targeted its home state of Pennsylvania.

"The [Public Utilities Commission] is set to make a ruling in the next few weeks on telephone competition so we wanted to weigh in before the ruling," Browyer said.

The report claims that Bell Atlantic customers in Pennsylvania pay overcharges that amount to $4 per phone line, boosting company profits "9% higher that they would be if the missing equipment had been discovered and written off years ago."

Browyer also said the institute is "not a front for AT&T" and hinted that the organization may confront AT&T over deregulating cable.