Southern Iowa Electric Co. v. City of Chariton

Citations

• 255 U.S. 539
• 41 S. Ct. 400
• 65 L. Ed. 764
• 1921 U.S. LEXIS 1683

Syllabus

<p>1. In the absence of a contract obligation, the grantee of a franchise to supply the public with electricity or gas cannot constitutionally be required by the State or its agencies to observe rates which; ini' effect, are confiscatory of its property. P. 541.</p> <p>2. The acceptance from a municipality of a franchise to supply the public with gas or electricity for a term of years at specified maximum' rates does not bind the grantee with a contractual obligation to. charge no more if the rates become in effect confiscatory, where the law of the State (Iowa Code of 1897, §§ 720,' 725) reposes in the municipality the continuing power to regulate such rates and, that the public may be protected, from improvident bargains, forbids any abridgment of the power by ordinance, resolution or contract. P. 542.</p>