71 Pa. Super. 355 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1919
Opinion by
This is an appeal from a determination of the Public Service Commission refusing to approve a proposed contract between the appellant company and the Borough of Ellwood City, in the County of Lawrence. The order of the commission was dated July 9,1914, the appeal from that determination was originally taken to the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, on August 5, 1914, and the record remained in that court until July 11, 1917, when it was certified to this court. The parties not deeming the matter urgent, the argument of the appeal was delayed to suit the convenience of counsel. Several questions are discussed in the printed briefs and were referred to at length upon the oral arguments which it is not within our province to consider, as they were not raised at the hearing before the Public Service Commission, and no testimony was offered establishing facts out Of which those questions could arise. The Public Service Company Law, the' Act of July 26, 1913, P. L. 1374, Article VI, Section 22, provides: “At the hearing of the appeal the said court shall, upon the record certified to it by the commission, determine whether or not the order appealed from is reasonable and in conformity with law,” and to this record our inquiry must be confined. The Pennsylvania Power Company, the pro
The plant of the Pennsylvania Power Company is located in the Borough of Ellwood City. The commission found that it represented an investment of $350,000, there was evidence sufficient to sustain that finding and the learned counsel for the appellant company conceded in his statement before the commission that it was probably worth $100,000. The capital of the Harmony Electric Company, the appellant, is $25,000 and the only property which it possessed was a lease of a plant for the generation of electricity, located about nine miles from the borough, the annual rental which it covenanted to pay for this plant was $18,000. The contract with the Borough of Ellwood City which the Public Service Commission was asked to approve was to run for a term of ten years, and it contained no provision requiring the electric company to give security for its faithful performance. The borough authorities had, in September, 1913, requested the Pennsylvania Power Company and the Ell-wood City Electric Company (which corporation subsequently became merged in the Harmony Electric Company) to make bids “for furnishing the borough with electric current, for a five-year contract, and a ten-year contract.” There was no advertisement for bids, there is no statutory requirement that there should be nor were the borough authorities required to resort to competitive bidding in the matter. The invitations to each of the two companies stated that bids would be received not
The appellant company came into existence upon the 31st day of December, 1913, by the merger of the Ellwood City Electric Company and a number of other corporations, and became invested with the rights of the companies thus merged. Both the appellant company and the Pennsylvania Power Company had the right to furnish this borough with electricity, subject to the approval of the Public Service Commission, but neither of the companies had the exclusive right to contract with the borough for furnishing current. When a contract is presented to the Public Service Commission for its approval,, the authority and duty of the commission is defined by Article Y, Section 18, of the Public Service Company Law; “such approval, in each and every such case, or kind of application, shall be given only if and when the said commission shall find or determine that the granting or approval of such application is necessary' or proper for the service, accommodation, convenience