Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1917-10-31
WATER RATES HEARING.
,naoy,s Appraisal Places valua-
e of plant at sf63,985

z..uaUv'a hRPt"
zion of plant at sf63,e65.
-. ofs mass OF figures and technical
.,..solory Of an expert appraiser, con-
...,,v to a mind unskiiled in these mat
tow facts stand forth clearly from
!, ..cond hearing on Ellsworth water
-. held Monday evening.
pr.t the value placed upon the water
...snd business here in Ellsworth by
-. company's appraiser si63, 1855. This
s,nred on the basis OF cost OF repro
duc,ion new
second. the statement OF the company's
..,snues and expenditures, verified by
-. utilities commission accountant,
lowing a net revenue of s5,lS2.36 for
,hs year ending June 50, 1917.
On these two figures the company
...es lis contention that the rates charged
hare are not excessive, the return being
-, little more than 3 per cent on the
Investment.
rbe case depends largely upon the
,,s,ness OF the valuation placed upon the
rroperty. The principal items in the
company's appraisal are the s34 $50
,.Iustion placsd upon the pumping
.,s,,on and equipment and 1881 on
ia distribution system, meaning the
mains and bydrants. Another item is
that OF si0,03s power plant, figured at 3
re-, cent OF the entire valuation OF the
nower plant OF which It Is part.
The petitioners claim that the appraisal
il excessive, but without the data on
which the valuation was based, their at
torpey was unable intelligently to go
into the matter. This data 10 included in
some thirty volumes, 5000 pages, Of field
notes, and inventory OF the entire prop
erty OF the Bangor Railway Il Electric
Co., and it's subsidiary companies.
These volumes will be placed at the dis
possl OF the utilities commission engineer,
who will check up the company's APP
praissl, and make an independent report.
The petitioners. through their counsel,
expressed their willingness TO abide by
this engineers findings. This is where
the matter now rests.
Tbs full public utilities commission was
here benjamin y. Cleaves OF Biddeford,
chairman; w. b. SHELTON OF Lewiston and
John Il. Bunker OF Bar Harbor. They
were accompanied by Assistant Clerk Roy
+. Leach, Mr.. McArdie, clerk OF rates and
schedules; Mr.. Parker, accountant, and
Mr.. Conner, stenogrspher. The Bar Har-
Dor & Union River Power Co., was repre-
sented by Ryder & Simpson OF Bangor
and the petitioners by w. E. Whiting
and F. J. Redmsn. E. NJ. Graham, general
manager Of the company, and Howard
Corning, treasurer, were present.
The first and principal witness OF the
evening WAS Henry c. Anderson, profess
sor OF mechanical engineering at the
University of Michigan, and IN charge OF
that department OF the university, now
absent on leave. He recited at length his
experience as a consulting engineer and
appraiser OF large public utilities, and
undoubtedly qualified a. an expert.
From June, 1916, to July, 1917, he was
engaged in making an appraisal OF all the
properties Of the Bangor Railway a. Eiec-
trio Co., OF which the Bar Harbor Il Union
River Power Co. 10 . subsidiary corpora
ton. In this work he segregated the
property OF the water works OF the com
pany. He described his work, and the
method OF arriving at the figures be sub
mittec.
Mr.. Corning, the second witness, sub
mitied detailed statement Of the re-
ceipis and expenditures OF the water
department OF the company for the year
ending June 30, 1917, showing a total
revenue of ti1,7x2.El; expenditures,
S,5ioO6i net revenue, 1,ls2.36.
Mr.. Parker, accountant for the utilities
commission, verified these figures.
This closed the hearing, and a CONSUL
tation between the commissioners and
counsel followed, at which arrangement
was made for the commissions engineer
70 examine the data ofthe appraisal.