Title: Fletcher Properties, Inc. v. FLA. PUB. SERVICE COM'N

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

356 So. 2d 289 (1978)
FLETCHER PROPERTIES, INC., Etc., Petitioner,
v.
FLORIDA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, Respondent.
No. 52157.

Supreme Court of Florida.
February 23, 1978.
*290 Kenneth F. Hoffman of Rogers, Towers, Bailey, Jones & Gay, Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Leon F. Olmstead and Raymond E. Vesterby of the Florida Public Service Commission, Tallahassee, for respondent.
KARL, Justice.
We have for review by petition for writ of certiorari a declaratory statement by the Public Service Commission.
Petitioner filed a petition for declaratory statement with the Florida Public Service Commission to determine the applicability of Chapter 367, Florida Statutes (1975), and Chapter 25-10, Florida Administrative Code, rules of the Public Service Commission, to petitioner and, more specifically, to determine whether petitioner constitutes a public utility. In its petition for declaratory statement, petitioner alleged:
Additional information was requested by the Public Service Commission regarding how Fletcher Properties recoups the cost of water and sewer utility service from the various apartment complexes and condominium associations on an equal share basis, how Jacksonville Suburban Utilities bills for services it provides and how charges for water and/or sewer service to the future single-family home subdivision will be handled. Petitioner responded that Fletcher *291 Properties recoups the cost of water and sewer utilities service from various apartment complexes and condominium associations on an equal share basis per occupied unit after an allocation of a flat $200.00 to the Tennis Club served by Fletcher; that Jacksonville Suburban Utilities bills Fletcher directly every three months for total consumption through a master meter located at the entrance to Baymeadows at their approved tariff rates from multiple dwellings; that as to the proposed single-family subdivision, Fletcher proposes to install individual residential meters on each home, although water will go through the master meter; and that if Jacksonville Suburban Utilities does not service the homes, Fletcher will have to read the meters itself and allocate usage to each homeowner at the same rate that Jacksonville Suburban bills Fletcher.
The Public Service Commission issued its declaratory statement on June 2, 1977, finding that the operations of petitioner in providing water and sewer utility service are within the definitions of a utility in Section 367.021, Florida Statutes (1975), and are not exempt under Section 367.022, Florida Statutes (1975). The Commission reasoned as follows:
We agree with the determination by the Public Service Commission that petitioner is a water and sewer utility within the provisions of Chapter 367, Florida Statutes (1975), and Chapter 25-10, Florida Administrative Code, for the reasons stated in the declaratory statement of the Commission.
Petitioner's assertion that respondent, by its statement, is establishing policy concerning the definition of water and sewer utility and that such determination may only be made by rule is without merit since respondent did not make its decision based on uncodified policy. "Utility" is defined by statute and decisional law, and compensation is not a term of art. We have examined the remainder of the issues raised by petitioner, in light of the record and briefs before us, and find them to be likewise without merit.
Accordingly, the petition for writ of certiorari is denied.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, C.J., and BOYD and ENGLAND, JJ., concur.
ADKINS and HATCHETT, JJ., dissent.