New Britain herald., 1916-01-08
MAPLE HILL WINNER
 IN FIGHT FOR GAS
(Contlnued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page)
 1913, which Section reads in part as 1 follows:
 IT any public service company shall unreasonably fail or refuse to furnish adequate service at reason- able rates to any person within the territorial limits within which such company has, by it's charter authority to furnish such service, such person may bring his written petition to the commission alleging such failure or refusal the commission may, if it finds that such company has unrea- sonably failed or refused to furnish such person with adequate service at reasonable rates, prescribe the service to be furnished by such company to such person, and the conditions under which. and maximum rates or charg- es at which such service shall be fur nished.'
 Maple Hill Growing Community.
 Tn such cases as this the chief in quiry is a determination of the cost of insta llatiOn and furnishing the ser vice requested, as compared with the probable income which will result
 When company has deliberately en- tered a given territory by securing charter rights to furnish service there in it is presumed to anticipate the ob- HgatiOn or duty which may follow to furnish such service, ,when reason ably demanded. and it is doubtless a function of this commission, after de termining the facts, to hold such com pany to the obligations which it has is tn fr1 that a profit will be shown on a given extension from the start if the pros poets of future business are reason ably good. In this case we have community within the chartered territory of the gas company repre- scented by eighty to one hundred ap- plicants who own or occupy property in which they propose to use gas if they can secure it. The evidence shows that it is a growing community and that it may fairly be assumed that the number of users of gas will ma terially increase in the future. The Maple Hill district lies between the cities of Hartford and New Britain in the direction of the natural growth of the latter city. To a certain ex- tent the introduction of gas will con- tribute to the increase of population,
 which in turn should ultimately fur nish consumers sufficient to make this extension profitable to the com panN.
 May Make Minimum Charge. Most of the petitioners acknowl- edged that their use of gas would be almost entirely for cooking and the company stated it's experience to be that the average use of such patrons would not exceed $S or S9 per year. These figures were. however, ques- toned by the petitioners, some of whom testified to having paid much
 in excess thereof when using gas else where for cooking only. Under the most favorable circumstances the gross income of the company on the proposed extension would be small in proportion to the cost of installation and if the company were required to give service requested and its innate of average annual use were found justified by actual experience,
 it is possible that the expense of fur nishing service would be out of pro-
 portion to the return, unless unfOr-
 seen develOpmen of the locality should also be experienced. For this reason a moderate annual minimum
 charge, in excess of the company's
 present service minimum charge, would be justified, to protect the com- pany in part against loss during the carly years of the extension. The subscribers to the statement herein
 before referred to should be willing also to enter into a contract with the company, in advance of the date of completed installation. to take the
 service as soon as it is offered so as to avoid unnecessary delay in plplng
 the houses and to avoid causing loss to the company, through lack or SUD-
 scribers during the first year.
 ! Assuming that practically all or
 the present petitioners would use gas if installed and would be Willing to enter into such @ contract and pay such a minimum annual charge, and allowing for a reasonable future growth and the natural increase III
 use, we are of opinion that the re- 1 spondent company would secure re- l turn commensurate with the cost ol l construction and service and that the l extension would ultimately be req