PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -The head of the state Division of Public Utilities said he will reconsider his decision not to investigate telephone companies accused of giving customers’ records to the federal government.

DPU Administrator Thomas Ahern last month refused a request from the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union to investigate Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T, which reportedly shared customers’ phone records with the National Security Agency.

But on Friday, Ahern said he would reconsider his decision after learning that other New England states are looking into it.

He also said he mistakenly thought a federal judge in San Francisco had dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration’s domestic spying program. In fact, on Thursday, the judge rejected the government claims that allowing the case to go forward could expose state secrets and jeopardize the war on terror.

“In light of these facts, I’ve got to reconsider,” Ahern told The Providence Journal, adding that he’ll meet with lawyers from his agency and from Attorney General Patrick Lynch’s office on Tuesday.

The ACLU had complained that Ahern gave in to questionable legal claims by Verizon and AT&T that the phone companies could not disclose information because of national security concerns.

“This one-sided acquiescence is hardly the response one would expect from an agency established to regulate public utilities in the interest of the public,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU’s Rhode Island chapter.

In May, USA Today wrote a story that said AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. had provided phone records to NSA. Verizon and BellSouth have denied they contracted to provide the NSA with records of their customers’ phone calls. AT&T hasn’t explicitly denied the newspaper’s report.

AP-ES-07-23-06 1414EDT