Northwestern Public Service Co., Matter of, Nos. 19520

• Court: Supreme Court of South Dakota
• Writing for the Court: TIMM
• Citation: 560 N.W.2d 925,1997 SD 35
• Decision Date: 02 April 1997
• Docket Number: 19528,Nos. 19520
• Parties: Util. L. Rep. P 26,600, 1997 SD 35 In the Matter of the Petition for Declaratory Ruling of NORTHWESTERN PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY with Regard to Electric Service to Hub City.

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560 N.W.2d 925 Util. L. Rep. P 26,600, 1997 SD 35 In the Matter of the Petition for Declaratory Ruling of
NORTHWESTERN PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY with Regard to
Electric Service to Hub City. Nos. 19520, 19528. Supreme Court of South Dakota. Argued Sept. 11, 1996.
Decided April 2, 1997.

Mark Barnett, Attorney General, Karen Cremer, Special Assistant Attorney General, Pierre, for appellant, Public Utilities Commission.

Susan Anderson Bachman, Alan D. Dietrich, Huron, for appellant, Northwestern Public Service.

Harvey A. Oliver, Jr. of Richards and Oliver, Aberdeen, for appellee, Northern Electric Cooperative.

TIMM, Circuit Judge.

¶1 On January 3, 1995, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) authorized Northwestern Public Service Company (NWPS) to replace Northern Electric Cooperative (NEC) as supplier of electricity to Hub City, Inc. NEC appealed to the circuit court, Fifth Judicial Circuit. There, the PUC's decision was overturned. The PUC and NWPS appeal to this Court. Here, the circuit court is affirmed.

BACKGROUND

¶2 In 1977 Safeguard Automotive Corporation (Safeguard) operated a manufacturing plant in the Aberdeen Industrial Park. The plant was located in the assigned service area of NWPS. Its electrical needs were served by that utility.

¶3 That same year a division of Safeguard, Safeguard Metal Casting (Division), planned to build an addition, a foundry, onto the manufacturing plant. The foundry too would be within the assigned service area of NWPS. However, due to a rate advantage offered by NEC, Division petitioned the PUC for relief from its obligation to take service from NWPS.

¶4 Division's petition was based on SDCL 49-34A-56, the new customer, new location, large load provision of the South Dakota Territorial Integrity Act. NWPS intervened in opposition. After hearing, the PUC issued an order and decision assigning NEC as the foundry's electric supplier.

¶5 On December 21, 1977, an "Agreement For Electric Service" (Agreement) was entered into obligating Division to purchase a minimum of 2000 kilowatts of electric power per month from NEC at a specified rate. The term of the agreement was set at five years. After that time, either party could terminate the agreement by giving twelve month's written notice.

¶6 In 1986 Division's foundry ceased operations. The physical plant was converted to use as a warehouse. In 1989 Safeguard's successor, Hub City, Inc. (Hub City) purchased the foundry site from Division. It continued to be used as a warehouse until 1993 when Hub City began to move in some of its production processes.

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¶7 In June 1993 Hub City informed NEC that it wanted to be served electricity by one supplier, NWPS, at the manufacturing plant and foundry addition, and asked NEC to coordinate with NWPS to accomplish single utility service. The cost of electricity from NWPS would be below the cost incurred through NEC. In March 1994 Hub City notified NEC to end electric service to the foundry site as of June.

¶8 In May 1994 NWPS petitioned the PUC for a declaratory ruling framing the issue this way:

¶9 Should Hub City be allowed to terminate the former Safeguard Metal Casting Division electric service agreement with Northern Electric Cooperative, Inc., and receive electric service from Northwestern Public Service Company for its total plant?

¶10 NEC intervened. The case was submitted on stipulated facts and affidavits (regarding the intent of the parties to the Agreement). The PUC decided in favor of NWPS, concluding that a switch in suppliers was justified by "significant changes in circumstances," and that the agreement provided Division (and its successor, Hub City) a contractual right to terminate NEC as its electric supplier.

¶11 On appeal to circuit court, the PUC's decision was reversed. First, the circuit court read certain provisions of SDCL 49-34A to grant NEC an exclusive right to serve the Hub City site, which right could only be disturbed upon determination by the PUC that NEC could no longer provide adequate service. Since it was uncontested that NEC could provide adequate service, the Court concluded that the PUC made a mistake of law by applying a "significant change in circumstances" test in determining whether NEC could be replaced by NWPS as Hub City's supplier. Second, the circuit court concluded that the PUC lacked authority to interpret or enforce a contract in a dispute between a consumer and a rural electric cooperative.

¶12 NWPS and the PUC appeal.

ISSUES

¶13 The issues are (1) whether the PUC predicated its decision on a mistake of law, and (2) whether the PUC acted in excess of its authority. These are issues of law fully reviewable without deference to legal conclusions drawn by either the PUC or the circuit court. See Egemo v. Flores, 470 N.W.2d 817 (S.D.1991); Permann v. Dept. of Labor, 411 N.W.2d 113 (S.D.1987).

MISTAKE OF LAW

¶14 The resolution of the first issue turns on the legislative intent of various provisions of Chapter 49-34A of the South Dakota Codified Laws. In reading these statutes we are guided by certain familiar rules. The intent of the legislature is "derived from the plain, ordinary and popular meaning of statutory language." Whalen v. Whalen, 490 N.W.2d 276, 280 (S.D.1992). Statutes are to be read in pari materia. Simpson v. Tobin, 367 N.W.2d 757 (S.D.1985). It is presumed that the legislature intended provisions of an act to be consistent and harmonious. State v. Chaney, 261 N.W.2d 674 (S.D.1978). It is also presumed that the legislature did not intend an absurd or unreasonable result. Applications of Black Hills Power and Light Co., 298 N.W.2d 799 (S.D.1980).

¶15 In 1975 the legislature enacted the "South Dakota Territorial Integrity Act" (Act), now codified at Chapter 49-34A. The policy underlying the Act was "elimination of duplication and wasteful spending in all segments of the electric utility industry." Matter of Certain Territorial Elec. Boundaries (Mitchell Area), 281 N.W.2d 65, 70 (S.D.1979). To accomplish that end, exclusive territories designated "assigned service areas," were established for each utility. See Matter of Clay-Union Elec. Corp., 300 N.W.2d 58, 60 (S.D.1980). To ensure the integrity of a territory, the legislature granted each utility the exclusive right to "provide electric service at retail ... to each and every present and future customer in its assigned service area." SDCL 49-34A-42.

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¶16 The Act contains several provisions whereby electrical consumers may have their provider changed. SDCL 49-34A-38 through 49-34A-59. Reference is made to these provisions as establishing assigned service areas within which the new provider has exclusive service rights at SDCL 49-34A-1(1) and SDCL 49-34A-42. SDCL 49-34A-1(1) defines "assigned service area" as "the geographical area in which the boundaries are established as provided in §§ 49-34A-42 to 49-34A-44, inclusive, and §§ 49-34A-48 to 49-34A-59,...