Light v. Pub. Serv. Comm'n Of West Va.

Citation84 W.Va. 638
CourtSupreme Court of West Virginia
Decision Date07 October 1919
PartiesClarksburg Light & Heat Company v. Public ServiceCommission of West Virginia
1. Public Service Commissions Classification of Public Utility Bates Proper

For the purpose of fixing the rates to be charged by a public utility, it is proper to place its patrons in different classes, and make different rates applicable to such classes based upon the varying cost of the service rendered. (p 643).

2. Gas Light and Heat Corporations Subject to Begulatory Power of Public Service Commission.

A corporation engaged in the business of supplying gas for light, heat and power to the inhabitants of a city is subject to the regulatory power of the Public Service Commission. (p. 644).

3. Public Service Commissions What Constitutes "Public Service Utility" Defined.

The use which the consumer makes of the commodity furnished does not constitute the test as to whether or not the regulatory powers of the Commission in dealing with public utilities may be invoked. It is the duty which the purveyor or producer has undertaken to perform on behalf of and so owes to the public generally, or to any defined portion of it, as the purveyor of the commodity; or as an agency in the performance of the service which stamps the purvevor or the agency as being a public service utility. (p. 644).

4. Constitutional Law That Legislature Has Designated Certain Business Subject to Public Service Commission not to be Disregarded.

Where the legislature has declared a certain business subject to regulation by the Public Service Commission, such declaration will not be disregarded by this Court, unless it appears that there is no substantial basis for holding that the business is of thai character which is subject to regulation by the Public Service Commission. (p. 644).

5. Same Public Utilities Regulatory Power of State.

Whenever any business or enterprise becomes so closely and intimately related to the public, or to any substantial part of a community, as to make the welfare of the public, or a substantial part thereof, dependent upon the proper conduct of such business, it becomes the subject for the exercise of the regulatory power of the state. (p. 644).

6. Gas Charges for Gas Regulation by Public Service Commission.

A corporation engaged in the business of supplying gas to the inhabitants of a city for the purpose of light, heat and power, is subject to have the rates it charges therefor to all of its patrons regulated by the Public Service Commission, notwithstanding some of such patrons may be engaged in manufacturing enterprises. (p. 646).

7. Public Service Commissions Part of Receipts Allowed Yearly for Amortization of Plant.

Where the life of a public utility is determined by the exhaustion of the supply of the material which it furnishes to the public, such part of its receipts each year should be allowed for the amortization of the plant as will return to the stockholders their investment within the probable life thereof. (p. 649).

8. Gas Dividends of Nottiral Gas Company Treated in Part as Return of Capital.

The dividends paid to the stockholders by a natural gas company whose life is determined by the life of the gas fields from which it obtains its supply, cannot in their entirety be treated as earnings, but such part thereof as will repay to the stockholders t, heir investment within the probable life of the plant must be treated as a return to them of their capital. (p. 649).

9. Public Service Commissions Rate Determined by Misapplication of Law to Facts Reviewed.

The business of rate making, being legislative in its character, a rate based upon a fact determined to exist by the rate-making power, will not be reviewed because of an improper finding based upon disputed facts, but where such fact has been determined by a misapplication of legal principles to the state of facts shown, such finding will be corrected by applying correct legal principles to such state of facts. (p. 653).

10. Gas New Pipe Lines of Natural Gas Company Investment, and "-Not Expenses of Operation.

Expenditures of a natural gas company for pipe lines from new wells which will be used during the life of such wells are properly included as an item of investment, and are not properly chargeable as an item of expense of operation. (p. 653).

(Lynch, Judge, absent.)

Original petition by the Clarksburg Light & Heat Company for suspension of an order of the Public Service Commission fixing a schedule of rates.

Order of suspension refused.

R. S. Douglass and Melvin G. Sperry, for petitioner. Geo. W. Johnson, Law & McCue, Glasscock & Glasscock, J. A. Meredith, and Hoffheimer & Templeman for respondent.

Ritz, Judge:

The Clarksburg Light & Heat Company has for a number of years been engaged in producing, transporting, distributing and supplying natural gas for public use in the city of Clarksburg. In July, 1917, it filed with the Public Service Commission a schedule of rates which it proposed to charge for gas thereafter supplied, which was an advance over the rates then charged. Several of the company's patrons filed objections to the said rates, and the schedule was suspended pending a hearing as to the reasonableness of the rates. Before this hearing was completed, to-wit, on the 9th of November, 1.917, the gas company filed an amended petition containing another classification and schedule of rates. These rates were an increase over those proposed in the first schedule. Objections were also filed to this amended schedule by a number of patrons of the company. A temporary schedule was made by the Commission on the 4th of December, 1917. This order of the Commission classified the company's service as follows: Class 1. Domestic Consumers. In this class are placed all consumers using gas for household purposes, and all other consumers whose use of gas varies according to the season of the year, but who cannot at any season or time be shut off, either temporarily or permanently, for the purpose of giving household consumers a sufficient supply of gas; in which is included restaurants, storerooms, and the cooking, heating and lighting parts of hotels. The rate allowed for the service to this class was eighteen cents per thousand cubic feet. Class two includes city buildings and city utilities, county buildings and school houses where gas is used under boilers and as in manufacturing plants, upon the condition that the company has a right to shut off the gas to keep domestic consumers supplied. The rate for this class is fixed at ten cents per thousand cubic feet net for the first one million cubic feet consumed in a calendar month, and six cents per thousand cubic; feet net for the quantity over one million cubic feet consumed in a calendar month. Class three includes manufacturers: and other large consumers who may be shut off immediately in order to provide an ample supply to the consumers in class one. The rate for this class was fixed at fifteen cents; per thousand feet for the first two hundred thousand cubic? feet, or part thereof, thirteen cents for the next three hundred thousand cubic feet, or part thereof, and twelve cents for all gas in excess of five hundred thousand cubic feet. This order of the Commission was temporary in its nature, and the application was retained before the Commission for final hearing and determination at a later time. Before any final order was had the gas company, on the 10th day of October, 1918, filed a second amended petition, in which it submitted an amended classification and a schedule of increased rates, which new classification and new rates it proposed to make effective in November of that year. By this amended classification class one was made to include certain service which was then included in class two, such as city buildings, county buildings, school buildings, and other quasi public service, and class two was limited to such consumers as were at that time included in that class, excluding those attempted to be placed in class one. Class three was the same as formerly, but provision was made for the discontinuance of service to this class entirely, except upon contracts made with such consumers by the gas company. The rates proposed in the new schedule were thirty cents per thousand cubic feet for class one, twenty cents per thousand cubic feet for class two, and for class three such rates as might be fixed by contract. Hearings were had upon this application, and on the 15th day of April, 1919, the Commission entered an order declining to allow the gas company to adopt the changed classification, but allowing an increase in rates above those then in effect, fixing the rates for consumers In class one at twenty-two cents per thousand cubic feet, less two cents for payment on or before the 10th of the month following that in which the gas is consumed; fourteen cents per thousand cubic feet for consumers in class two; twenty cents per thousand cubic feet for the first two hundred thousand cubic feet, or part thereof, eighteen cents per thousand cubic feet for the next three hundred thousand cubic feet, or part thereof, and sixteen cents per thousand cubic feet for all over five hundred thousand cubic feet for consumers in class three, with a discount of one cent per thousand cubic feet to such consumers if payment was made on or before the 20th of the month next following that in which the gas was used; further providing that the service might be discontinued at any time to consumers in classes two and three when it became necessary to do so in order to furnish an adequate supply of gas to the consumers of class one. From this order of the Commission the gas company prosecutes this appeal, contending: first that the Commission was not authorized to include in this schedule of rates gas furnished by it to manufacturing plants under class three, for the reason that the same is not a public service, and that its...

To continue reading

Request your trial
32 cases
  • Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. State of West Virginia State of Ohio v. Same
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • June 11, 1923
    ...service, Carnegie Natural Gas Co. v. Swiger, 72 W. Va. 557, 79 S. E. 3, 46 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1073; Clarksburg Light & Heat Co. v. Public Service Commission, 84 W. Va. 638, 100 S. E. 551. And as to each this duty has been confirmed by the legislation of that Prior to the World War the product......
  • State ex rel. City of St. Louis v. Publ. Serv. Comm.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Missouri
    • February 17, 1932
    ...1, 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 148, 53 L. Ed. 371; Puget Sound Elec. Ry. v. Commission, 65 Wash. 75, 117 Pac. 739; Clarksburg Lt. & Heat Co. v. Pub. Serv. Comm., 84 W. Va. 638, 100 S.E. 551, P.U.R. 1920A, 639; Board of Pub. Util. Comrs. v. New York Tel. Co., 271 U.S. 23. (11) In order to determine the......
  • North Carolina Public Service Co. v. Southern Power Co.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
    • May 10, 1922
    ...... system and of an electric light and power system, furnishing. light for the streets and ...In Louisville & Nashville. R.R. Co. v. West Coast Naval Stores Co., 198 U.S. 483,. 25 Sup.Ct. 745, 49 ......
  • Rural Electric Co. v. State Board of Equalization
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming
    • January 5, 1942
    ...... is expressed in the case of Jersey Central Power & Light. Co. v. Tri-County Rural Electric Company, Inc. (decided. ...418; Inland Electrification, Inc. v. Department of Pub. Service (Wash.) 92 P.2d 258. It. will be noted that the ...Eq. 523, 155. A. 887; Borough of Ambridge v. Pub. Serv. Comm., 108. Pa.Super. 298, 165 A. 47; Southern Ohio ...The public service commission of West. Virginia, too, held likewise in 1938. 24 Public ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT