Commission Regulation Of Public Utility Depreciation

Author : Robert Carlton Poole
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (141 download)

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Download or read book Depreciation and Depletion written by Robert Carlton Poole and published by . This book was released on 1938 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The right of the state to control the rates charged by public utilities for service rendered to the public utilities for service rendered to the public is generally accepted by the American courts and by the people at large. Whether or not the utilities themselves approve of government regulation does not materially affect the principle. In a series of important cases, Smyth vs. Ames (1898), Knoxville vs. Knoxville Water Company 91909), Minnesota Rate cases (1913), and Des Moines Gas Company vs. City of Des Moines (1915), the Supreme Court of the land laid down the rule that a public utility is entitled to a reasonable return upon a fair value of the property. This fair value is to be based upon reproduction cost new less accrued depreciation, and the return is to be in addition to an annual allowance sufficient to maintain unimpaired the value of the property. How much depreciation or upon what basis the accrued depreciation and the annual allowance should be estimated, the Court did not say. This problem has been left to state legislatures, courts, and commissions to solve, with occasional opinions voiced by the United States Supreme Court when cases are appealed to that body to determine whether or not rates fixed result in a confiscation of property without due process of law. The Court has not answered any of the perplexing questions that have troubled the regulating commissions but has merely required that the rates fixed be high enough, however calculated, to provide a reasonable return upon a fair value of the property.