Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1916-12-01
Defer ACTION ON LIGHT RATE
COUNCIL, AFTER LENGTHY DlS-
CUssION, LAYS MATTER OVER
TO NEXT MEETING -;

SOO3N~4Ab AK 4ao AEsNo4n4 OAA9~
CUssIoN, LAYS MATTER OVER
TO NEXT MEETING
The city council held rather long
meeting Thursday evening of last
week, at which the question Of electric
light rates was discussed by the mem
bers of the committee, councilmen and
citizens. The matter was finally laid
over to the next meeting for further
consideration as all the aldermen ex-
cept one indicated that they wished to
look into the matter further before
acting upon it.
N. N. Bergheim, chairman Of the cit
izens' electric light rate committee,
was the first to speak. He attacked
the petitions which were recently pre-
sented to the council by some two hun
dred light users, asking for a, lower
rate, saying that the petitioners charg-
ed the committee with having failed
to do anything and that it had not
gotten a substantial reduction, which
charge, he said, was not true. He re-
sented this action by the petitioners,
he said. because, in the first pace, the
J
and get a lower rate but merely to
try to get the drop cnarge eliminated,
and furthermore, there has been no
complaint about the rates being exor-
bitant, but even so the committee had
secured a reduction Of 11112 per cent,
although the company had givel the
committee to understand at the start
that they would not in any rate which
would cut their revenue.
Mr.. Bergheim said that there are
two ways Of arriving at rates for cur
rent. One way is to make comparisons
with other cities of about the same
size and where the conditions are sim
liar, and the other is to make a scien-
tifc investigation of the company g
property and base the rate on the valu-
alton Of the plant and on the COM
pany's earnings. The latter plan was
not considered, he said, as the cost of
hiring an expert for the investigation
would be too great and at any rate the
company would not be obliged to &C;
cept any such valuation and unless it
did the investigation would only be a
wasted expense. In view Of these 1acts
the committee decided to make com.
parative investigation, Mr.. Berg
helm said, and out Of some 30 cities
whose rates were compared only three
had rates that were lower than the
rates proposed here and twenty-five
had higher rates. Brainerd, Virginia
and Fergus Falls were the three cities
that had lower rates, and their ser.
vices could not be compared with ours,
ne said. In majority Of the cities the
minimum was found to be more than
$1.OO and in some cities the rates were
as high, as 20, cents per kilowatt hour
All that can be expected. Mr.. Berg
helm said, is a general reduction, and
the old system of charging, which is
not scientific one, is to blame if all
accounts are not affected and it may
also indicate that sorne Of the patrons
are not paying enough for their ser
vice under the present system. Under
the present system the cost is>only
trifle over cents per kilowatt, he
said, and this cannot be called an ex-
orbitant rate. Even if the company
is getting too large return on their
investment, no 1ne outside of the COM
pany knows whether this is fact
The committee succeeded in getting
a substantial reduction, he said, and
even got the company to promise a
rate that was lower than it first pro
posed and which it said was the lowest
it would accept.
As the matter Of fixing rates is not
in the hands of the council, Mr.. Berg
helm said, the only way that the com
pany can be compelled to reduce their
rate is for the customers to bring ac-
tion against them in the courts but in
order to get reduced rate they must
show that the company's rates are ex-
orbitant. The committee, he said,
spent great deal Of their valuable
time the past summer investigating the
rates in order to save the citizens that
expense, and the company was very
courteous in its treatment of the COM
mittee. He stated that he had receiv-
ed letter from the municipal refer
ence bureau commenting the commit
tee for its work and saying that the
city had gotten liberal concessions
without trouble. He closed by saying
that he felt that he had done every
thing that could be done in the matter
and that he did not care to spend any
more Of his time on it. The only
only thing to do now, he said, is to
trv to get the company to consent to a
still further reduction, and this, he
said, he doubted the company would
do.
P. J. Vasaly, also member of the
light rate committee, and who present
ed minority report on his findings
to the council, stated that although the
proposed rate was apparently the low
est that the COMPANY would agree to-,
he did not consider it substantial re-
duction to patrons generally. He said
that he. as one Of the committee had
asked the manager of the light COM
pany, to furnish the committee sched-
ule of rates, which would form a basis
from which to work from. He did
not believe under these circumstances
that the company would expect this
first schedule to stand, and therefore
it was not fair to figure it in basis