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Southcentral Kentucky business owners should pay more attention to the possibility of a 270 area code change - it may cost them thousands.

In partnership with the North American Numbering Plan Administration, the Public Service Commission is figuring out a way to deal with the shortage and the eventual exhaustion of the three numbers we've known since 1999.

A sparse crowd gathered at a public hearing in Bowling Green early this month to give the PSC input.

At that meeting, the PSC explained new area codes can be established in two ways.

The first allows an existing area code to be split geographically. Five split options are being considered, which divide up the area in various ways.

The second option is a new area code to “overlay” on an existing area code. This option, which is used mostly in major metropolitan areas, requires 10-digit dialing for local calls.

You may have to reprint all of your brochures, business cards - anything with your businesses' phone number on it if a split solution is chosen.

There are two types of businesses that stand to gain from a 270 area code change: publishing and advertising companies.

I can only imagine the surge in profits generated from an area code change likely to send small business owners digging deep into their wallets while the transition takes place.

Would dialing 10-digits seem so bad then? Think about it.

There's a lot to consider, but no matter the outcome, expect changes.

You can expect to have to dial 10 digits for local calls or dial numbers with a new area code.

But an area code change isn't new for southcentral Kentucky.

Bowling Green's area code was once 502; it became 270 seven years ago.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't voice your opinion on the matter.

Bob Appling, director of the contractors licensing board, knows it will take awhile for contractors and similar businesses to get used to a changed number.

“You don't think about it but almost every thing you do involves a phone number,” Appling said. “If you do any type of advertising - TV, radio, business cards, brochures - all this has to be changed.”

Besides a tremendous printing cost, the time to change things verbally will be what will wear many business people down, Appling said.

Earlier this year, the Owensboro Chamber of Commerce surveyed business owners to offer opinions on the issue, but the survey results were mixed.

An e-mail survey of Owensboro-Daviess County businesses showed 54 percent favored an overlay method and about 46 percent preferred a new area code change, according to the report.

Survey respondents said it would cost them almost $4,000 if they had to switch to a new area code.

Cha-ching.

The Owensboro Chamber of Commerce believes the largest cities in western Kentucky should retain the 270 area code and all the little guys should bear the cost.

Who do you think they're talking about?

Not us, that's for sure.

Owensboro's chamber of commerce will tell the PSC that Owensboro and Bowling Green should stay the same while the far western Kentucky cities share a different fate.

Jim Hizer, president and chief executive officer of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, said they have forwarded the idea to their legislative committee to see if they should survey chamber partners about the 270 area code change.

While we're waiting for our local chamber of commerce to do a survey, let the PSC know what you think about this issue.

- Written comments may be mailed to the PSC, P.O. Box 615, Frankfort, KY 40602, faxed to (502) 564-3460, or e-mailed to psc.consumer.inquiries@ky.gov. Documents on area code 270 and the various public hearings that have been held can be found on the PSC Web site at http://www.psc.ky.gov. The case number is 2006-00357.