Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission

• Decision Date: 08 December 1975
• Docket Number: No. 56634,56634
• Citation: 324 So.2d 427
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: LOUISIANA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY v. LOUISIANA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION et al.

Page 427

324 So.2d 427

LOUISIANA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY v. LOUISIANA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION et al.

No. 56634.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Dec. 8, 1975.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 16, 1976.

Andrew P. Carter, Eugene G. Taggart, Monroe & Lemann, New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellant.

Marshall B. Brinkley, Gen. Counsel, Louisiana Public Service Commission, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellee.

Stanwood R. Duval, Jr., Houma, for intervenor-appellee.

DIXON, Justice.

Plaintiff, Louisiana Power & Light Company (LP & L), filed a complaint with the Louisiana Public Service Commission alleging that intervenor, South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association (SLECA), had violated either R.S. 45:123 by extending its electric line beyond the 300 foot radius provided therein, or the Commission's General Roder of March 12, 1974. Finding no merit in this contention, the Commission dismissed LP & L's complaint. From the district court judgment affirming the Commission's disposition, LP & L appeals directly to this court. La. Const. of 1974, art. 4, § (E).

The dispute between LP & L and SLECA concerns the right to provide electrical service to South Coast Corporation at its building located at the intersection of Woodlawn Ranch Road and Louisiana Highway 57 in Terrebonne Parish. Upon customer request, SLECA rendered service to the building. In this action, LP & L seeks to have SLECA's lines removed and to have LP & L recognized as the sole utility authorized to provide service to South Coast's building.

Previous to the time SLECA rendered service to South Coast Corporation, it owned a distribution line running along Highway 57, a distance in excess of 300 feet from the metering point of the building. From this distribution line ran a service drop which provided service to the street light at the intersection of the two thoroughfares and to construction crews during the construction of the building. This service line is within 300 feet of the metering point.

LP & L owned a transmission and distribution line which ran along Woodlawn Ranch Road, easily within 300 feet of the metering point.

LP & L argues that the term 'electric line' as used in R.S. 45:123 does not contemplate a service drop such as used in the case before us to service the street light and construction crews.

R.S. 45:123 reads in relevant part:

'No electric public utility shall construct or extend its facilities, or furnish, or offer to furnish electric service to any point of connection which at the time of the proposed construction, extension, or service is being served by, or which is not being served but is located within 300 feet of an electric line of another electric public utility, except with the consent in writing of such other electric public utility; provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall preclude (a) any electric public utility from extending service to an applicant for service at an unserved point of connection located within 300 feet of an existing electric line of such electric public utility, unless (i) such line was not in operation on April 1, 1970 and (ii) the point of connection is located within 300 feet of an existing electric line, of another electric public utility, which line was in operation on said date, or (b) any electric public utility from extending service to its own property, or to another electric public utility for resale; and provided further that any consumer who feels aggrieved with the electric service being received by him may apply to the Louisiana Public Service Commission for an order directed...