Waynesboro Water Co. v. Public Service Commission

Citations

• 78 Pa. Super. 143
• 1922 Pa. Super. LEXIS 76

Syllabus

<p>Public Service Commission — Public Service Company Law — Water companies — Boroughs — Acquisition of water company by borough — Proceeding before Public Service Commission for certificate of public convenience — Mandamus.</p> <p>The Public Service Commission has jurisdiction to determine whether the service, accommodation, safety and convenience of the public require the acquisition of the waterworks of a public service company by a municipality.</p> <p>Under article III, section 3 (d), of the Public Service Company Law it is necessary for the borough to obtain a certificate of public convenience from the Public Service Commission, evidencing its approval, before a municipality can acquire, construct or begin to operate any plant or other facilities for the rendering to the public of any service, of a kind or character already being rendered by a public service company within the municipality.</p> <p>Such action takes the place of the former procedure by mandamus, which was available to ascertain the probable price payable by the municipality for the waterworks, which it sought to acquire.</p> <p>By substituting for the first mandamus proceeding, the application to the commission, the water company is deprived of no vested right. The legislature qualified the borough’s absolute right to purchase, conferred by the Act of 1874, and provided another method by which the borough could obtain the information necessary to act in the first instance, but that legislation took nothing from the water company. It was not deprived of any property or of any right to possession or enjoyment of property. Those rights it may still assert and maintain, until confronted with what was formerly the second mandamus proceeding to compel the conveyance of the waterworks upon the payment of the price offered. At that time the defendant company could raise any issues of fact which it deemed essential to a proper determination of the case, and those issues, particularly those concerning th