Show Forgetting the Public TI E only surprising feature of the tho decision of t the e public publio utilities commission granting an increase in tho the rates of tho Utah Gas C Coke ke company is that i it did aia not give the company all nIl it asked for Here in Utah we wo are aro given to pondering why we are not a n manufacturing center why our industrial acU activities tics do not Dot grow as the they do in some other states W We c do not have to look far for the tho answer when public records offer offer such stich discouraging elements clements Is thero any good reason why Salt Lake wit within n. n a n short di distance distance- of some somo of af tho the greatest coal deposits in inthe Jn tho the United s States s should pay ImY more for gas than Los lAs Angeles where tho price o of coal is almost double what hat it is here We there is is-at is at least in the minds of tho commission and tho the gas company No Ko doubt it has t to todo do with mth the number f of C connections on a n main plant valuations material costs etc etc Even granting this is there any understanding a n Salt Lake gas gns rato substantially twice as much as that of Los Angeles for manufactured gas 7 But that is about the way it figures out for the average household consumer In Salt Lake the tho household consumer pays pars under the now rate for tho the first one thousand cubic feet of gas plus twenty-five twenty cents serve ready charge or a total of The same samo consumer in Los Angeles would pay 75 cents Of course this comparison is not entirely fair to 4 the gas company sinco since the to serve swells the of the tho difference existing between the two rates Nevertheless there is su sufficient range be- be the tho two rates on increasing consumption to 4 cause the public to wonder the why and the how haw of tho the Utah public utilities commission Following are aro figures showing charges for gas in Salt Lake Lil as compared w with ith the Lo Los Angeles eh charges for tho sam same same- co consumption Cubic feet teet 1000 2000 1000 1000 Salt Sat Lako Lake 6 45 1245 15 1845 2445 2445 Los Angeles 75 LEO 75 1050 1375 1700 The Thc figures would indicate that the public utilities commission has lost the main reason for its existence public protection Public utilities commissions have havo been likened to courts of justice the tho only exception being toeing that the commission itself was considered a n rep rep- e resen of the public in that it would permit the thc establishment of no unfair rates Tates In Utah however it seems to have developed into a court where all cases go by default the brunt of the burden of proof still resting upon the public The rhe commission sion was never intended as an instrument of persecution for public service utilities although some of it its first advocates would have havo made us believe this On the other hand it was not Dot intended to be an instrument of for utilities Perhaps the public utilities commission can justify the differences between the tho Salt SnIt Lake Lako and the Los Angeles rates although we confess wo we are arc at a loss to know how It appears to us that the utilities e commission corn com m. m mission will never become a complete unity until it itis itis itis is with a n. public prosecutor acting in much the same sam capacity as s a d district attorney in a court of or justice Certain ertain it is that the public can n expect little relief or protect protection on un under er the existing order |