| Show POWER COMPANY APPLIES FOR asserts improved conditions condition make rate reduction unnecessary claiming that the enforcement of an order entered by the public utilities commission of utah on december 12 and effective january 1 1934 requiring a 10 per cent reduction in rates would deprive the telluride power company of its property without due process of law in violation of both the national and state constitution and would necessarily result in the absolute ruin of the defendant the telluride power company has made application for a rehearing of this case in order that additional vital facts might be presented this application takes exception to the findings of the commission that the reasonable value of the electric service supplied by this company to its customers is less than the defendant is charging for it and adds that the evidence is ands undisputed buted that defendants said customers value its said services next to the absolute necessities of life and that said service is and has been of the highest quality and dependability it is further stated that these customers have for more than ten years past paid rates equal to or higher than its present rates notwithstanding that during all this time none of these customers have been under any compulsion to take this service but have requested and received this service voluntarily and of 0 their own desire denying me aliened inability of 0 these customers to continue to pay the present rates for electric service the telluride power company states that they have always paid these rates or even higher and that the companas comp anys losses from bad accounts have never been in excess of three per cent of its gross revenue and this high point was reached in the 12 month period ending june 30 1933 during which the present depression reached its peak the application for rehearing goes on to say that if the reduction is enforced the inevitable effect will be to reduce defendants revenues to a point where it cannot meet both its reasonable and necessary operating expenses pay its taxes and provide for maintenance and depreciation as required of it by the federal power commission and the public utilities commission of utah and likewise meet the interest on its funded debt which must and will necessarily result in the absolute ruin of defendant the loss of its property and the destruction of 0 its ability to continue to render adequate and proper service to its customers it is further pointed out that the telluride power coin company pany has now on hand applications for extension of service to communities now without electric service and badly in need of such service and that if they are forced to reduce the rates to customers now being served they will be absolutely prevented from securing needed funds to extend service to communities and individuals adjacent to its lines which are not now supplied with electric service and who cannot no t now be supplied with such service in any other way than by the extension of the defendants facilities the application calls attention to the significant fact that the order of the utilities comal commission arx orx continued on page 6 Tell telluride urMe power company applies for a rehearing re hearing continued from page 1 was based upon matters brought out at the only hearing held in the case which was in april 1933 when general economic conditions throughout the country were at their worst but that since the time lime of this hearing there have been been marked price increases in practically tactically every commodity produced in the territory served by the he telluride company in some cases ases amounting to more than er cent the telluride power company that the purchasing PO ower of the vast majority of their customers has materially increased since the date of said hearing and that they not only nave have not suffered any considerable loss in customers through their inability to pay the present rates but on the contrary have actually gained customers through this period they state that collections have improved rather than become more difficult and that in general there is every indication di both in the defendants business and otherwise that there has already been a sufficient eco recovery in the territory served by this company to fully enable its customers to pay at least the present rates voluntarily established by the defendant the application takes exception to the findings of the commission in which it is indicated that this section of the state is in a pioneering stage and that its major industries are at this time so unsound as to be on the point of general abandonment the telluride power company asserts that it is a matter of common knowledge that the territory served by t the he telluride power company is one of the most fertile highly developed and prosperous portions of utah that it has baa been wisely founded and that its industries are substantial going concerns that the people involved are not in despair and are not ready to declare themselves b bankrupt and that they will wholly resent the official locking of the door against the entrance of now new capital continually required to meet the growing needs of themselves and their children figures are cited to show that the telluride power company in spite of prudent investment and efficient and economical operation recent conditions have so 30 reduced the earnings that the common stockholders who paid for more than one half of this property have not received one cent in earnings during the past two years the public has profited far more from the companas comp anys investment than the owners of the company it is stated and that a vital public service such as this cannot long be furnished when operations are arc at a loss the telluride power company in the closing paragraph of the application calls attention to president Roosevel ts stand for increased employment higher wages higher prices and elimination of unfair practices this company has fallen in behind that leadership and questions the fairness of the commission in forcing down wages and prices of this entirely home owned and home operated industry which though relatively small is the second largest electric utility in utah and the second largest taxpayer in the territory served |
