Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-12-06
ELECTRICITY USERS
DEPOSIT PROPOSED
New Rules Suggested for
Company by Public UtiIi-
ties Commission.

The Public Utilities Commission to-
day announced a set of proposed rules
to govern the deposits which resi-
dents of the District shall be required
to place with the Potomac Electric
Power Company for the extension of
service to their homes.
The commission will hold a public
hearing in the boardroom of the Dis
trict building at 10 o'clock on the
morning of December IS to hear ar
guments of the company and the pub
lie as to whether these rules should
go into effect.
Proposed Rules.
The proposed rules follow:
Il. Upon application to serve prem
Uses with electricity the Potomac
it's mains. without cost to the appli-
cants, a distance of 100 feet in length
per house for underground construc-
ton and 600 feet for overhead con-
Struction. provided that this length
of extension is sufficient to reach the
premises.
in cases where these lengths of
extensions are not sufficient to reach
the premises, the Potomac E!ectrlc
Power Company shall make the en-
tire extension, provided the applicant
deposits with the company So per
lineal foot for underground construc-
ton and 40 cents per foot for over
head construction for the further ex-
tension necessary, the applicants to
receive no interest on the deposit, and
the deposit to be returned by the COM
pany to the depositors at the rate of
$500 in the case of underground con-
struction or $40 in the case of over
head construction for each additional
house served from the extension until
the entire amount of the deposit is
returned. At no time. however. shall
the refund to any depositor exceed
the amount of his original deposit"
This rule, it was pointed out. does
extensions of it's mains of greater
length than required by the ruling of
the commission. Another rule pro-
vides that the Potomac Electric Power
Company will not be required to make
extensions unless customers thus
served shall sign contract for five
years. If application of these rules
are claimed to be unjust, petition may
be made to the commission for spe-
cial action. The commission may
modify the rate per foot which the
company may change for extension
Present Method.
At present the company extends its
conduits free to a house or houses
where. in it's opinion. the cost of the
extension is justified by the demand
for service.
In cases where the promise of reve-
nue. is not sufficient to justify free
extension, the company states that it
has been it's practice 10 deduct from
the estimated cost $50 for each house
to be connected on a street, the bal
ance to be either deposited with the
company by the new customers or to
be paid in thirty-six monthly INSTALL
ments, plus the customary monthly
guarantee of 81.
If the amount is deposited with the
company it is refunded proportionate-
ly as additional customers are OBJ
tanned along the line of that extern
sion. If the cost is being paid under
the monthly installment plan. the
amount of this monthly guarantee is
reduced as additional customers are
obtained.
The main objection of persons who
complained to the commission against
the present rules of the company was
that too much discretion was lett with
the company in deciding what the de-
posits should be and when service
should be furnished without deposits.