Arizona republican., 1912-08-31
Action in Pacific Gas and Electric Case Is Suspend ed Until the Further Or der of the Corporation Commission
NEW RATES WILL
 DATE FROM SEPT. l
They May Not Be An nounced for Weeks But If Excess Payments Are Made by Patrons They Will Be Returned

The hearing of the Pacific Gas and Electric cOmpany's case before the corporation commission yesterday was suspended indefinitely at the close of the day by an order of the commission Continuing the hearing until the further order of the cOm- mission and such supplemental hear ings as may be called with reference to facts, matters and things therein considered or to be considered. Req sCnable notice, not exceeding seven days shall be given the parties hereto"
 It became apparent that the com mission could not intelligently proceed to the work of rate making, until added facts are secured, as will be explained in this article. and to se cure such testimony will require some time. The hearing was there fore held up in the evidence taking stage and without argument of couE- sel on either side The commission however made the important an nouncement that whatever rates it shall decide upon, will become ef fective on September 1. Should the rates as finally established be less than the present rates, resulting in any overpaymert by patrons after September l, the company will be directed to return to it's patrons all such excess payments.
 Mir Mason took the stand again yesterday morning and for a season the Investigation continued along the lines of the day before, relative to the valuation of the property. Then the question of rate making was taken up. MT. Mason described he methods now employed by the com pany which he said were unsatisfac- tory to the company as well as to the consumers of gas and electricity. In a general discussion he took mp the matter of scientific rate mak- ing which he said is fine in theory but is impracticable In Illustrating the point he said that considered on the rules of scientific engineering the axle of an automobile should not be much larger than a lead pencil, to withstand the demands upon it, but in practice the measure of safety requires a much larger axle.
 MT. Geary spoke of the block sys- tenn well known among the cleo tricians and questioned the witness concerning it. It is the system now in use in Los Angeles. MT. Mason explained the system in detail and pointed out what he regarded as de- fleets, although in some circumstances it operates very well. Then he pointed out another system of rate making which he did not specify by name but said it is in use in St. Louis and in a modified way in Mil waukee. In one city the basis is the number of lights in a house and in the other it is the rooms in a house, a house of five rooms in quite con- stant use being regarded as the basis If it were a ten room house of which five rooms were in but seldom use the other five would be regarded as active" and the additional rooms would carry a lower rate. The details of this explanation are too intricate for the lay mind to grasp except by a voluminous explanation.
 The depreciation fund of the Pa cific Gas and Electric Go. was re- ferred to and MT. Mason described the way in which it had beer established, maintained, handled anC disposed of
 The question of reproduction cost was again dug into for a season with particular reference to the B 13 pei cent added to the initial cost during the construction period which would require about two years. Mir MasSOr told how he arrived at that percent age saying he allowed per cent fol engineering, per cent for supervi- sion, 10 per cent for office expenses and 1872 per cent for contingencies total B 1-3 per cent. Then followed a long discussion in which all par ticipated. The commission appeared tingencies was entirely too high anC counsel for the state indicated tha it was decidedly excessive, pointing to the case of Ripon Wise where onl. 12 per cent was allowed, including the interest on the investment
 MT. Mason said that in the figure he had prepared the entire rebuild ing of the plant was contemplated In the Ripon case it was shown tha the construction work referred to wa construction added by piecemeal t a working plant. MT. Mason sai that if he were estimating on piece meal work he would make a lowe percentage for contingencies, but h would also have to add something t the cost of construction.
 Later when Avery Thompson, su perintendent of the city waterwork
 (Continued on Page 5.)