Gopher State One Call Pricing Change in 2004

Since it's inception in October 1988, Gopher State One Call has served the underground facility owners and operators as Minnesota's One-Call notification center. In 2002, GSOC processed almost 750,000 excavation requests from all over Minnesota. In an effort to respond to the needs of facility owners and excavators, we continue to expand the services offered at GSOC and implement technology previously not available. As we continue to move forward, change is inevitable.

Starting January 1, 2004, GSOC will make two pricing changes to the one-call system. · The first change is a significant reduction in cost per locate request received. The GSOC Board of Directors have chosen to lower the cost per locate request received to $1.15 from the current price of $1.55. · The second part of the billing change is that GSOC will no longer be accepting NLR requests from facility owners and operators.

By making these changes, the GSOC Board of Directors have determined that the NLR process (that originally began as an experiment) has outlived its original intent and is actually adding unnecessary operational costs, which includes monitoring the compliance to GSOC rules.

The GSOC Board of Directors believes each locate ticket distributed holds value and is vital to public safety and the protection of underground facilities. The advanced mapping technology being used at GSOC allows member databases to be reduced to levels not available in 1988. More importantly, this technology will help lessen the impact that over notification can have on you. This will also allow GSOC to concentrate its personnel on call-taking functions, rather than on billing functions.

The GSOC Board of Directors welcomes your comments on these changes. A special e-mail address has been established to assist in answering your individual questions, (billingpolicy@gopherstateonecall.org).