174 Pa. Super. 450 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1954
Opinion bt
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission by its order of August 11, 1953, allowed the Equitable Gas Company a part of a proposed rate increase under tariff supplements filed January 29, 1952,' and directed the Company to refund to its customers the difference received under those supplements between January 1, 1953, the effective date of the increase, and October 1, 1953 [extended to November 1, 1953), the effective date of the new tariff supplements containing rates to produce the allowable revenues prescribed in the Commission’s order.
The Company has appealed from that part of the Commission’s order of August 11, 1953, which directs refunds.
The Company filed on January 29, 1952, the tariff supplements providing for increased rates to become effective April 1, 1952. These supplements proposed increases for the Company’s Pennsylvania retail customers totaling approximately $3,000,000' annually.
The City of Pittsburgh filed a complaint against the increased rates on March 6, 1952, and on March 31, 1952, the Commission began an investigation on its own motion into the reasonableness of the proposed rates. Acting under section 308' (b) of the Public Utility Law of 1937, 66 PS §1148 (b), the Commission at the same time suspended the proposed supplements for a period of six months from April 1, 1952, to October 1, 1952. On September 22, 1952, the Commission further suspended the operation of those supplements'for an additional three months from October 1, 1952, to January 1, 1953, on which date the rates in the tariff supplements of January 29, 1952, became effective by operation of law.
The City of Pittsburgh on December 1, 1952, sought to have the Commission prescribe the Company’s then existing rates as temporary rates to remain in effect from January 1, 1953, the end of the suspension period, until final disposition of the rate proceeding. On December 23, 1952, the Commission denied the City’s petition to fix temporary rates.
In its final order of August 11, 1953, the Commission found that the new rates would yield $1,059,216 in excess of the annual allowable revenues of $27,-876,200 which would, permit a rate increase of only
The Company contends that the Commission had a statutory duty under section 308 (b) to consider the effect of the suspension upon the gross revenues collected by the Company and pronounce its conclusions. It is thus argued that the Company lost approximately $1,500,000 on the basis of the increased rates as sustained in the final order of the Commission during the suspension period preceding January 1, 1953; and that this alleged loss should be applied by the Commission to offset the refunds of approximately $1,000,000 due to consumers.
The questions which the Company raises in the present appeals have been decided adversely to it by our decision in City of Pittsburgh v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 171 Pa. Superior Ct. 187, 216-218, 90 A. 2d 607. In that case, as here, the utility’s higher rates under its tariff, suspended for the maximum period of nine months by the Commission, were ultimately sustained to permit in part the proposed rate increase. There, too, the new rates under the tariff became effective by operation of law at the expiration of the nine-month suspension period, and the Commission ordered refunds to consumers over the period for which the full rate increase had been in effect. The utility there, as here, contended that under section 308 (b) it was mandatory that the Commission make express provision in its order for the utility to recoup
The fact that in the present proceeding the Company asked the Commission to apply the suspension allowance to offset refunds, whereas Duquesne Light Company in the case cited suggested prospective re-
In Philadelphia v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 164 Pa. Superior Ct. 96, 103, 63 A. 2d 391, we said, in considering section 308 (b), that the power of the Commission to suspend was a discretionary power, and that the Commission, as an administrative body, has access to all facts essential to an initial determination of the necessity for a suspension. We think the provision in that section that “The commission shall consider the effect of such suspension” in ultimately fixing the rates of a; utility must be likewise construed as giving the Commission discretion in its application as to the effect of suspension. To adopt the interpretation of sections-.308 (b)
The Commission in its final order of August' 11, 1953, referred to the filing of the tariff supplements on January 29, 1952, to its orders of March 31, 1952, and September 22, 1952, suspending the operation of the proposed supplements, and to the date when the rates became effective by operation of law. In considering the effect of suspension in,arriving at its final conclusion, the Commission was not required to recite in detail the reasoning processes involved in the - exercise of its administrative discretion. What, if any, provision should be made under the circumstances was within the discretionary power of the Commission.
The order issued by this Court on October 12, 1953, making the appeals, Nos. 168 and 169, April Term, 1953, a supersedeas of the Commission’s order, is vacated, and supersedeas is terminated. .
The order of the Commission is affirmed.
It has been stipulated by the Company that the appeal is limited to the refund issue.
Section 308 (b) of the Public Utility Law of 1937, 66 PS §1148, provides in part: “The commission shall consider the effect of such suspension in finally determining and prescribing the rates to be thereafter charged and collected by such public utility.”
Section 313 (a) of the Public Utility Law of 1937, 66 PS §1153, provides in part: “If, in any'proceeding involving rates, the commission shall determine that- any rate received by a public utility was unjust or unreasonable, . . . the commission shall have the power and authority to make an order requiring the public utility to refund the amount of any excess paid by any patron in consequence of such unlawful collection, within two years prior to the date of the filing of the complaint, ...” .