CLEARFIELD — A plan by the state Public Utility Commission to split the vast territory covered by the 814 area code into two separate area codes has dialed up criticism from some public officials and business leaders.

Enough people have complained that state regulators last month decided to take another look at their December decision to create the new 582 area code in northwestern Pennsylvania and leave 814 to a swath of central Pennsylvania. Now critics — and a few supporters, too — are getting ready to state their cases over the next few months at a new set of hearings.

Thanks to the proliferation of cell phones and Internet-dedicated lines, hang-ups over new area codes so common in urban centers like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are now hitting closer to small, rural communities.

Clearfield County Commissioner Joan McMillen’s view is that decision-makers in Harrisburg paid little mind to the concerns of the residents in less-populated Clearfield.

“Many, many times, we just take it up here. It’s about time we start standing up and say, ‘“No, this is wrong,’” McMillen said after a recent public meeting on the area code change at the county courthouse.

McMillen’s concern in part has to do with where the commission would like to draw the new area code boundary, placing the retail and population center of DuBois in the northwestern part of the county in 582 and leaving the county seat of Clearfield in 814.

That prompted a bevy of questions at the meeting. Will calls between DuBois and Clearfield be long distance? How will county 911 calls be affected? How much will this cost small businesses to change business cards, signage and promotional materials?

Instead of dividing the region into two area codes, most opponents prefer a system that would overlay the new area code on the entire region, so one home or business might keep the old 814 area code while a new one would have a 582.

Jerry Bloom, who owns an electrical, heating, air conditioning and plumbing business in Clearfield that also serves the DuBois area, figured he would have to pay for a phone relay center to serve both if they divide the region into separate area codes.

“And it’s going to increase the amount of our monthly phone bill,” Bloom said. “We’re going to eat it, and then pass it on to the customer, which I don’t think is fair.”

Pennsylvania had just four area codes in 1993 — 215, 412, 717 and 814. But now there are 10 in the commonwealth — the initial four along with 610, 267, 484, 570, 724 and 878.

New area codes are needed when existing area codes exhaust their supply of the three-digit exchanges, which are the three digits that follow an area code in a 10-digit phone number.