Author: Sidney D. Bowdler

Publisher:

Published: 1937

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

Dissatisfaction with rate levels has been called the primary cause of public utility regulation. This point is well illustrated by the well-known Granger legislation which was enacted in western states. The primary purpose of this legislation was to enact reasonable railroad rates for middle Western farmers. Thus, the various legislatures attempted to enact reasonable rates by statute law. Following the failure of rate regulation by statute, the power to determine reasonable rates for public utilities was delegated to quasi-judicial, administrative commissions. The Federal Government, in 1887, found it wise to create an Interstate Commerce Commission which was later (1906) given the power to fix minimum rates for interstate carriers. But in all this regulation machinery and action there existed a power to fix rates which would be confiscatory to the owners of public utilities. To prohibit confiscation of public utility property the "due process" clauses of the fifth and fourteenth amendments were invoked. Thus, reasonable rates must be fair to both consumer and to the public utility owner.