Slate Belt Electric Street Railway Co. v. Public Service Commission

Citations

• 73 Pa. Super. 493
• 1920 Pa. Super. LEXIS 47

Syllabus

<p>Public service companies — Contracts—Bates—Change of rates — ■ Specific performance — Equity.</p> <p>Wherd the lights of individuals under a contract which would otherwise be perfectly valid are in conflict with “the general well-being of the State” the rights of the individuals must give way to the general welfare. It therefore follows that when two public service companies enter into a contract relating to rates they are presumed to do so with the knowledge that the right of the State to exercise its police power in the future is expressly reserved, and that where the common weal and the interests of the public demand that the provisions of the contract thus entered into shall be modified, it can be done without any violation of the provisions . of the Constitution of the United States with reference to the impairment of the obligation of 'contracts. The regulation of the rates to be charged by any and every public service company is but an exercise of the police power inherent in every government and absolutely necessary for the continuance of its well-being.</p> <p>Where two public service companies enter into a contract providing for a supply of electric power, .the rates to be charged by the company furnishing the power are subject to supervision and control by the Public Service Comüiission and the contract has no binding force, when its terms conflict with the rates fixed in the method prescribed by the Public Service Company Law.</p> <p>Public service companies — Bates—Coal clause.</p> <p>* A clause in the rate schedule of a public service company, regulating the price of electric power upon the varying price of coal, is not so uncertain and indeterminate as to be, necessarily, either arbitrary or unreasonable, during the unusual conditions created by the war. Where the commission has found that such a rate is reasonable irr conformity with the law, the appellate court will not set aside such a finding on appeal.</p>