Evening star., 1919-12-18
|PEPCOF OF|GHTSPLAN
| OF UTILITIES BOARD
Opposes Rules Governing
Cost to People for Ex-
tending Current.

The Potomac Electric Power Com
pany. at hearing before the Public
Utilities Commission today, opposed
the set OF rules prepared by the COM
| mission to govern the amount which
the people should pay for having cleo
tric current extended to their homes
The commissions proposed rules
provide, in substance, that the COM
| pany should extend underground con-
nections 100 feet free and overhead
connections 500 feet free. The COM
mission would have the prospective
customer pay So per lineal foot for
underground connections past the free
extension and 40 cents foot for over
head extensions past the free limit.
The proposed rules also provide that
the amount which a customer de-
posits with the company for extern
sion Of service beyond the free limits
shall be refunded proportionately as
additional customers are obtained by
the company along the line of the
extension.
The commission held the hearing
today to hear arguments for and
against these rules before determining
whether they should be put into effect.
| Insufficient Guarantees Feared.
J. S. Barbour, counsel for the com
pany, told the commission that tho COM
pany fears these rules would require
| it TO make untold capital expenditures
| in extending services to new homes
| without sufficient guarantee that these
new customers would use enough cur
rent to give the company a fair return
on the money invested in making the
| extensions
| He argued that a. person could re-
Quire the company TO extend its con-
duts TO his home and not use more
Y0x,f 20
pany'S minimum charge for service.
He also gave the following illus
trauon: A man living 200 feet from
the nearest conduit would. under the
proposed rules. have the service ex-
tended 100 feet free and deposit with
the company $500 for the additional
hundred feet. He could then, Mr. Bar
| bour said, induce a neighbor along
the line of the extension to take the
service, which would entitle the first
customer to a refund OF his deposit, re-
! gardless of the amount OF current the
| two would consume.
Basis Of Rules Explained.
Waiter c. Allen. executive officer Of
| the commission, pointed out, however.
that the prospective customer would
have to wire his house in order to
| take the service. Mr.. Allen said that
| in view of the cost of wiring. he did
| not think it likely a man would go
| to that expense unless he intended
to use electric current regularly in
| his home.
/ The entire morning was taken up
by testimony of Mr.. Allen In expIa-
nation of how the commission ar
rived at details of its rules:
Engineer Commissioner hutz, cnaar
man of the commission, explained tnat
the rules were not yet final ana thar
the commission desired all the iisn.
possible both from the company ana
the public on the question.
h. M M
the commissions course in basing ITS
rules on the average amount OF cur
rent used by residential customers per
wear Mr.. Barbour argued that unoeI
the proposed rules the company woulu
have no guarantee that the new Gus
| toners to whom extensions were maoe
would use the average amount OF cur
rent
Present Policy Dfscussed.
The company's present policy is TO
make free extensions where IL Is sat
isfied the amount of current TO De
used will justify the amount in'eseeu
4 in the extension
| Where the company does NOT pehess
the amount Of current 10 oe useu
would Justify a free extension, tne
company will make the ex.ens,on,
provided the customer will guarantee
the company for a period OF three
years a minimum monthly revenue
that will justify the extension. AS
additional customers are OBTAINED tniS
monthly guarantee is reduced.
If the customer does not desire To
pledge a monthly guarantee he ma!
deposit with the company the COST OF
the extension, less as much thereof as
the company believes is justified by
the amount of current to be used. In
these cases the company refunds the
deposit proportionately as additional
customers are obtained
The main object or the commission =
/ rules, therefore, would be to fix def
I; nitely the distance which the COM
pany would be required to extend it's
! conduits free.