The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission announced on Thursday that 582 will be the new ‘overlay’ area code within the existing 814 region.
When no more 814 phone numbers are available, the new 582 area code will be assigned to customers in the 27-county region in central and northwest Pennsylvania, including Centre County. Existing 814 phone numbers will not change.
As previously reported, residents within the region also will be required to switch to 10-digit calling, in which callers will need to first dial the area code before the seven-digit phone number for all calls.
Beginning Oct. 3, residents in the 814 region will be encouraged to voluntarily use 10-digit dialing, and it will be required starting April 3, 2021
The 814 area code is the largest geographically in the state and the only one that still allows for seven-digit dialing.
The 582 overlay area code will be placed into service on May 1, 2021 and it will not be assigned until all 814 numbers are exhausted.
814 is one of Pennsylvania’s four original area codes and the only of those to not undergo any form of area code ‘relief,’ either through a geographic split or through an overlay. The Federal Communications Commission mandates that states implement a relief plan when an area code is about to exhaust its available numbers.
582, meanwhile, has long been considered a possibility for the region. In 2009, a plan proposed splitting the 814 geographically and assigning 582 to the northwestern part of the state. That plan, however, was eventually dropped in 2012 as residents and telecommunications providers advocated for an overlay instead.
The 582 overlay is projected to provide a stock of phone numbers for the region for 67 years.
In addition to most of Centre County, the 814 area code includes all or portions of Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Fulton, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Potter, Somerset, Tioga, Venango, Warren and Westmoreland counties.
Map of current area codes
