The Kansas Gas and Electric Company v. The Public Service Commission of The State of Kansas
Decision Date | 10 December 1927 |
Docket Number | 27,695 |
Parties | THE KANSAS GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY, Appellant, v. THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF KANSAS, LEW T. HUSSEY et al., Appellees |
Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Decided July, 1927
Appeal from Shawnee district court, division No. 3; OTIS E. HUNGATE judge.
Judgment affirmed.
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.
1. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION -- Statutory Authority and Jurisdiction -- Restricting Similar Services in Community. The public utilities act confers upon the public service commission the power to determine whether a community already occupied and served by one utility may be invaded by another utility giving the same kind of service, and whether the public interest or that of the utilities would be subserved by the construction and installation of a second system in the community.
2. SAME--Necessity that Utility Obtain Permit to Enter New Territory. A provision of the act (R. S. 66-131) interpreted, and it is held that a utility that was doing business in the state when the act was passed, and is proposing to enter a community not theretofore occupied by it, must obtain from the commission a permit to do so, and may be required to conform to reasonable regulations of the commission in respect thereto.
3. SAME--Constitutional Law. Such a regulation and requirement is not a violation of the constitutional rights of the utility.
4. SAME--Statutory Authority and Jurisdiction--Regulating Entrance of Utility Into New Territory. It is within the power of the commission to determine whether a permission to a second utility would operate as a needless economic waste disadvantageous alike to the public and the utility, and if these facts were found to exist to make an order regulating the service, in effect substituting regulation for competition, and even going to the extent of excluding the applying utility from the zone or territory already occupied and being served by another utility with the permission of the commission.
Fred S. Jackson, James E. Smith, both of Topeka, and Henry L. McCune, of Kansas City, Mo., for the appellant.
William A. Smith, attorney-general, M. J. Healy, John M. Kinkel, both of Topeka, and Louis E. Clevenger, of Emporia, for the appellees.
In this proceeding two electric power companies are contending for the right to supply a cement plant at Mildred, a large user of electric current, with the power necessary to the operation of the plant. The Kansas Utilities Company, hereinafter spoken of as the utilities company, was organized on September 19, 1919, and has been engaged in manufacturing, distributing and selling electric current to consumers in five counties near its headquarters at Fort Scott, to wit: Bourbon, Allen, Woodson, Coffey, Anderson and Linn counties. It applied to the public utilities commission, now called the public service commission, and hereinafter designated as the commission, for a certificate or permit to carry on the business for which it was organized, and this was awarded on August 4, 1920. Later, and on March 15, 1923, by an amendment it changed its corporate name to the name now used, and obtained from the commission a certificate of convenience and necessity to do business in the zone composing the counties named. It has transmission lines in this territory, and one of its lines reaches a point within thirteen miles of the current plant mentioned, and it had asked the commission for authority to extend the line to the cement plant. The plant, it appears, is close to the load center of the utilities company.
The Kansas Gas and Electric Company, hereinafter designated as the electric company, was duly organized in 1910, and was authorized by the charter board of the state to carry on the business of manufacturing, distributing and selling electric current in Kansas. It engaged in business and sold and distributed electric current to consumers in a number of counties in the state, but principally in Sedgwick and Butler counties. It appears to have a line to Bluffville, Wilson county, which was about forty-eight miles from the cement plant, and it applied for permission to construct a transmission line to Mildred with a view of furnishing electric current to the cement plant, but it had not obtained a certificate of convenience and necessity for the extension or the furnishing of current in that zone. It further appears that the cement plant was ready and willing to buy current from either of the power companies which it found was able to supply sufficient current for the operation of the plant at a reasonable cost. A hearing was had before the commission on January 3, 1925, nominally for authority of the utilities company to build a transmission line to the cement plant, and at the same time the electric company applied to the commission for permit to build a transmission line from Bluffville to Mildred.
Judgment was accordingly given for the defendants.
The question first argued relates to the interpretation and effect of a section of the public utility act, which provides:
(R. S. 66-131.)
It is contended by the plaintiff that the last clause of the section made it unnecessary for it to obtain a certificate or permit to extend its business into territory not occupied by it when the public utility act was passed and that in fact it was entitled to occupy new territory and carry on its business without permission or any interference or interruption by the state or the public service commission. The plaintiff, as well as some other utilities, had obtained authority and were already engaged in business when the public utilities law was enacted. The status of these companies as going concerns was recognized by the legislature and a permit to enter the state and do business was deemed to be unnecessary. As to new utilities or those not yet authorized to do business in the state, it was provided that they could not come in and begin business until they had obtained from the commission a certificate that the public convenience would be promoted by allowing them to enter the state and transact business as a public utility. A company already in the state which had an established business and was then giving service to the public was exempted from obtaining a permit, but the new company applying for admission was required to satisfy the commission that public convenience would be subserved by permitting them to transact business in the state. When that permit was granted to the new company it was placed on a par with those already in the state and engaged in serving the public. We think it was not the purpose of the legislature to relieve any public utility doing business in Kansas from the regulatory powers, supervision and control of the commission. It could not have been the intention, we think, to discriminate as between utilities admitted to and doing a like business in the state, supervising and regulating one and allowing another to run at large, doing business as it chose, free from regulation or control. The public utilities act is an elaborate one, giving the commission full power and authority to supervise and control...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Wright v. The Federal Reserve Life Insurance Company
... ... 1 ... INSURANCE--State Supervision--Duty of Commissioner to Failing ... H. Brady, of ... Kansas City, for the appellants ... Thomas ... The ... law presumes that a public officer will do his duty, and ... therefore this ... ...
-
Cline v. Kansas Gas and Electric Company
...transmitting, selling, and distributing electric current to consumers in a number of counties in Kansas. Kansas Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Service Commission, 124 Kan. 690, 261 P. 592. Therefore, it is a public utility within the scope and meaning of section 66-104, Section 17-505, Genera......
-
In re Appication of McFayden
... ... of Convenience and Necessity and PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF IDAHO, ... disclosing that proposed service would be provided by ... corporation to be ... furnish like service, company already serving field has right ... to ... 222, 247 P. 284; Kansas Gas & Electric Co. v. Public ... Service Com., ... ...
-
Breeden v. Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co.
...the Commission through its own experts on matters with which it deals. The Supreme Court of Kansas in Kansas Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Service Commission, 124 Kan. 690, 261 P. 592, 594, in reference to a similar act to that in question here, has 'If it desired to extend its service to ot......