San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-29
CITY PREPARED
To COMBAT CAS-
COMPANY CLAIM
Assistant Attorney Hopes
to Win Fight for
Lower Rate.
SUPPLY Is QUESTION
Lack of Development Of
Field May Have Bear
ing on Charge.
SUPPLY IS QUESTION

fore leaving for Austin Saturday. Tn
hearing on the gas rate quest,,7 is Sc
for Monday and officials Of the Sar
Antonio Public Service Company Al
well as representatives Of the city will
appear before the commission. Th,
hearing is expected 30 consume a weel
or ten days
Mr.. Marshall has been engaged fol
several months in compiling dats
which would enable the city to intelli
, gently present its contention for lowe,
gas rates. Officials of the San An.
tonic Public Service also are known &c
have been busy preparing their side Of
the casa
Mr.. Marshall's data, which has been
gathered from numerous sources, con
sists of statistics on rates in other
Texas cities, valuations of the prop
critics of the local gas distributors, in
vested capital, pipe line statistics and
other technical data. He declared
Saturday that the city's case is fully
prepared and he saw no reason why
the hearing should not be held. The
Public Service Company also is ex-
pected to announce ready.
Gas Supply a Factor.
Providing the hearing is taken up
by the commission Monday, it will
mean that after several months of
delay and several postponed hearings,
that the city is actually to get its
fight for lower rates before that body.
The case went 20 the railroad commits
sion when the city council adopted an
ordinance fixing the maximum rate to
be charged by the Public Service Com
pany for domestic gas at 671a cents.
The Public Service Company previous
~ had announced a rate of 94ia cents.
This rate was allowed to remain in eff
feet until final hearing by the State
Railroad Commission.
Two important factors are expected
10 enter into the case when it is fully
developed before the state body. One
is the valua ton of the Public Service
Company's properties and the other is
the question of an adequate supply of
natural gas at the field which is now
furnishing gas to the city. When the
Public Service Company first an
nounced its rate, it stipulated that
providing it developed a large indus
trial business, it might be possible at
some future date to lower the domestic
rate. 1t was made plain that under
the existing circumstances, the COM
pany could not distribute gas through
its mains at a price less than 941a
cents maximum and make reasonable
profit. A huge industrial business
must be depended upon to produce a
profit sufficient to enable it to reduce
its domestic rate.
Development Question Enters.
It became known some time back
that the industrial business of the COM
pany had not increased as it might
have and investigation into It's cause
disclosed the fact that many concerns
which might have changed over to nat
ural gas for fuel purposes had hesi-
tated to do so until the field had been
!. proven and an adequate supply as
sured. While neither officials of the
distributing company nor the pipe line
company would discuss the matter at
any length, it was evident that the
. field had not been fully developed and
that 1t was not known whether the
available supply is sufficient 10 meet
the domestic and industrial needs of
the city. This would be an item in IA.
vor Of the present high rate, or per.
haps even higher one, on the ground
that no immediate prospect Of an in
crease in the industrial business was
imminent.
1t may be claimed by the city in
presenting its case, on the other hand,
that an effort to develop the field to
its full capacity has not been made. 1t
is known that some drilling has been
done at the Three Rivers field and also
at field closer TO San Antonio but
just how much development is in prog
ress is not known. At the outset
promoters of the field declared that
there was an ample supply of gas
available and that q further supply
could be tapped as needed.
Present Officers to Bear Brunt.
The other question to come up, that
of property valuations, is expected to
lead to controversy and some differ
ences in figures between representa-
tives Of the city and the gas company.
1t is known that the assistant city at
torney has been at work for some time
on property valuations and that he has
mass of statistics which he will pre-
sent to the commission touching on
that subject. Upon the final fixing
of the property values depends the
reasonable" rate which may be
charged by the company.
A suggestion that it might be well
for representatives of the incoming ad-
ministration to have legal representa-
tives at the Austin hearing did not
meet with encouragement as it was
pointed out that no selection of city
attorney can be made until after May
s and it would not be advisable to send
just any attorney to the hearing. 1t
is also expected that the rate hearing
will have been concluded and rate
fixed before the new administration
takes office on June /.
Templeton, Broos, Napier and
Brown will represent the San Antonio
Public Service Company at the hearing
while Mr.. Marshall will be assisted by
I'D Z. Connor, rate expert.