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Energy and Utilities Law

University of Michigan Law School

Journal

1939

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Law

Inconsistencies In Public Utility Depreciation, Robert D. Haun Dec 1939

Inconsistencies In Public Utility Depreciation, Robert D. Haun

Michigan Law Review

Depreciation is a matter of valuation and of the determination of the cost of rendering public service. It is only incidentally related to replacements, and accounting for depreciation will not necessarily provide for replacements. Since depreciation does have to do primarily with valuation and determination of the cost of rendering service, and since capital devoted to public utility use is subject to regulation, it would seem that consistency in principles is not only desirable but attainable. It is the purpose of this article to examine the cases decided by the courts and by the regulatory commissions of the various jurisdictions …

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Public Utilities - Rate Regulation - Validity Of Temporary Rate Order, Thomas K. Fisher Nov 1939

Public Utilities - Rate Regulation - Validity Of Temporary Rate Order, Thomas K. Fisher

Michigan Law Review

Of interest to students of public utility rate regulation will be the case of Driscoll v. Edison Light & Power Co. in which the United States Supreme Court side-stepped a reconsideration of the fair value rule as announced in Smyth v. Ames, and a determination of the constitutionality of temporary rates based on the prudent investment theory.

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Wanted: A New Definition Of The Rate Base, Paul G. Kauper Jun 1939

Wanted: A New Definition Of The Rate Base, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

Public utility problems today have a conspicuous place on the stage of national life. The New Deal's imposing yardstick: program and its policy of encouraging municipal ownership and operation of utility services by means of P.W.A. grants have focused attention chiefly on the issue of public versus private ownership. However, there are indications that a truce between the federal agencies and the private utilities is at hand and that, in consideration of the undertaking on the part of the private utilities to finance capital improvements and additions on a large scale and thereby contribute to general economic improvement, the New …

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Securities Legislation - Public Utility Holding Company Act Of 1935 - Extension Of Maturity Date As New "Issue", Edmund O'Hare May 1939

Securities Legislation - Public Utility Holding Company Act Of 1935 - Extension Of Maturity Date As New "Issue", Edmund O'Hare

Michigan Law Review

Defendant a public utility holding company, wished to obtain a one year extension of the maturity date of its unsecured "5 1/2 % Convertible Investment Certificates" by inducing the holders thereof to assent to such extension in return for a twenty per cent payment of the principal of each certificate. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued to enjoin defendant from using the mails or other instrumentalities of interstate commerce in carrying out its plan, because defendant had not filed a declaration under section 7 of the Public Utilities Holding Company Act of 1935, in connection with the proposed extension. Held …

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Constitutional Law - Public Utilities - Standing Of Public Utilities To Challenge The Constitutionality Of The Tva, Michigan Law Review May 1939

Constitutional Law - Public Utilities - Standing Of Public Utilities To Challenge The Constitutionality Of The Tva, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Eighteen electric utilities, with non-exclusive franchises and in direct competition with the TVA in selling power wholesale to municipalities, cooperatives and large industrial plants, sought to enjoin the activities and projects of the TVA and its directors as being unconstitutional and as contravening their rights under the fifth, ninth, and tenth amendments. Fraud, duress, and misrepresentations in securing customers were charged. A court of three judges dismissed the bill, holding that there was no fraud or duress and that the TVA was constitutional. Fourteen utilities appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Held, with Justices Butler and McReynolds dissenting, …

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Public Utilities - Franchises - Enforceability Against Utility Of Franchise Provision Regarding Rates When City Is Not Bound, Menefee D. Blackwell Apr 1939

Public Utilities - Franchises - Enforceability Against Utility Of Franchise Provision Regarding Rates When City Is Not Bound, Menefee D. Blackwell

Michigan Law Review

The charter of the city of Texarkana, Texas, provided that none of the privileges usually granted public utilities should be enjoyed in the city except such as were permitted by franchise given by the city council, and that such franchises should expressly reserve the right of regulating the utilities. The city entered a franchise agreement with respondent utility by which rates charged in the Texas city were not to be higher than those charged in another part of the city which was in Arkansas. The Arkansas rates were lowered by judicial action, and this proceeding was to enforce the lower …

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Taxation - Public Utilities - Implied Condition In Utility Franchise Of Tax Exemption, Allen A. Rubin Mar 1939

Taxation - Public Utilities - Implied Condition In Utility Franchise Of Tax Exemption, Allen A. Rubin

Michigan Law Review

In 1917 the city of New York and the New York Municipal Railway Corporation, predecessor in interest of the appellant, the New York Rapid Transit Corporation, entered into a contract for the operation of part of the city's transit system. The Transit Corporation was thereby obligated to furnish its services for a five cent fare, which by city charter provision could not be changed without the approval on referendum of a majority of the qualified voters. Other relevant portions of the contract provided that the corporation should pay all taxes upon its property and taxes incurred in connection with the …

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Public Utilities - Power Of City To Reduce Rates Allowed By Franchise, M. D. Blackwell Feb 1939

Public Utilities - Power Of City To Reduce Rates Allowed By Franchise, M. D. Blackwell

Michigan Law Review

The city of Miami gave a franchise to a utility to sell electric power, providing that after a stated period of time it should have the right to charge rates which would enable it to have an annual return of at least ten per cent on the rate base over and above operating expenses. The right to set rates, however, was made "subject to the lawful regulatory authority of the city or state commission having jurisdiction," and it was further provided that "this grant shall at all times be subject to the right of the state of Florida, directly or …

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