PUBLIC UTILITY VALUATION - RATE BASE

Authors

Abstract

The California Railroad Commission, in conducting a hearing in 1930 on natural gas rates charged by the Los Angeles Gas and Electric Corporation, found that the "historical value" of the utility was $60,704,000, and that its "fair value" for rate-making purposes was $65,000,000. This fair. value figure included no specific allowance for going concern value. The company's engineers had estimated the fair value at $95,000,000, on the basis of the "present cost of reproduction" theory. The commission, relying on its fair value figure of $65,000,000, ordered a rate reduction. A three-judge federal court refused to enjoin the enforcement of the commission's order to reduce rates, (D. C. S. D. Calif. 1932) 58 F. (2d) 256. On appeal, the Supreme Court upheld the fair value arrived at by the commission, found therefore that the rate reduction as ordered by the commission was not confiscatory, and affirmed the action of the statutory court below in refusing an injunction. Justice Butler wrote a dissenting opinion concurred in by Justice Sutherland. Los Angeles Gas & Electric Corporation v. Railroad Commission of California, (U.S. 1933) 53 Sup. Ct. 637.

Recommended Citation

PUBLIC UTILITY VALUATION - RATE BASE, 31 Mich. L. Rev. 1169 (1933).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol31/iss8/23