By BRIAN FERRY

bferry@timesobserver.com

A year from now, everyone in the current 814 area code will have to dial all 10 digits, including the 814, to make local calls.

On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission announced that it was instituting changes to the area code over the next year. The writing has been on the wall for years. In 2011, the PUC held hearings, stating that it was expected the area code would run out of numbers in 2015.

When most households had one phone number, a single area code was enough to manage all the numbers. As the number of cell phones continues to boom, there just aren’t enough number combinations.

“Several years ago, when they were going to look at giving us a new area code, we went through this conversation,” Rep. Kathy Rapp (R-65) said. She spoke with Rep. Brad Roae (R-6) about the Thursday PUC announcement, as they had spoken about the issue years ago. “The discussion at that time was, when we run out of numbers we have to do something.”

The legislature can weigh in, but changes to area codes are not legislative action.

“State law allows the PUC to do that,” Roae said.

The options were an overlay — area codes that share the same space — or a split — one geographic area would retain the 814 code and a second area would have all new numbers.

They both have disadvantages. Splitting the current area code into two would mean every individual and business in the new area would have to get a new number. An overlay requires 10-digit dialing for local calls and two people in the same household could have different area codes.

The results were overwhelmingly in favor of an overlay.

“I don’t want to change my number,” Rapp said. Neither does anybody else.”

“Imagine how difficult it would be for businesses” to change phone numbers on all their materials, Roae said. Roae represents part of Crawford County, and is the chairman of the House Consumer Affairs Committee which oversees the PUC.

“Overwhelmingly, the public preferred the overlay,” Roae said. “This is what the public wanted.”

“This preserves existing phone numbers for residents and businesses in the region, while also ensuring that a supply of new numbers will be available for decades to come,” according to a PUC release.

“First and foremost, it is important for residents and businesses throughout the 814 area code to understand that there will be no change in their telephone service,” PUC Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille said. “The proposal approved by the commission today ensures that customers currently using 814 telephone numbers will keep their existing numbers, and the PUC is launching a year-long education campaign to help everyone prepare for a second ‘local’ area code in the region.”

PUC did not announce Thursday what the new area code number would be. “The new overlay area code will be assigned by the North American Number Plan Administrator and will be announced in the Fall of 2020,” according to PUC. “This new overlay area code is projected to provide telephone numbers to the region for approximately 67 years.”

To help with the adjustment to the overlay, PUC will implement changes over the next year.

Starting Oct. 1, residents and businesses will be encouraged to voluntarily start dialing all 10 digits for calls within the 814 area code.

On April 1, 2021, 10-digit dialing will be required for all calls.

The overlay will be put into service on May 1, 2021. But, the new area code may not be used right away.

“Based on current forecast predictions, the supply of phone numbers available in the 814 area code is projected to be exhausted in 2022,” according to PUC.

“As soon as we run out of numbers, they’ll start giving out phone numbers with the new area code,” Roae said.

History and geography

The 814 area code was established in 1947 and is one of the original four in Pennsylvania.

From Erie in the northwest to a slice of Tioga in the northcentral, passing through Clearfield and Centre counties, and all the way to the southern border and Somerset and Bedford counties, it includes 13 whole counties and parts of 14 others.

“It is the largest area code in the state and the last to undergo changes because existing phone numbers have been exhausted,” according to PUC.