Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1935-01-17
Gas Company States They Cannot
Accept Proposed Rate

weeks ago to discuss the loca
natural gas problem with the mem
| bers of the Public Utilities Commits
sion, failed to inform the many
citizens in Malta and McConnels-
vile with reference to the justified
fair rate that was recommended by
the Utility Court Had the loca
municipal officers seen fit to inform
| our many gas users through the
newspaper medium that they as rep
resentatives of our twin villages
| were advised by the Utility Commits
sion that the lowest rate that the
village might expect to secure, as a
| result Of appealing their case, would
be 45c to 48 cents as gate rate
and 20 to 35 cents as distribution
rate; making a total average rate
per thousand of 65 to rs cents, the
| well-thinking people would have a
keener understanding Of what might
be expected if the gas rate problem
| is not solved in the near future
If our citizens will but refresh their
memory, they will recall the sad ex-
perience that resulted to the gas
users in Malta and McConnelsville
when the previous gas rate contro-
versy was referred to the Utilities
Commission for settlement. A re-
view of the former gas reveals that
| the Columbus Court ordered the
then distributing company to in
crease their rate IL cents per thou
sand
It is possible that the former
problem was taken to the Commits
sion on account Of the councils de-
layed action. Certainly our COM
| munity leaders are not favorable to
our municipal officers delaying their
action in the solving of this prob
lem and again permitting this ques-
ton to be referred to the capital
consideration is given to the village
officials already being familiar with
the Utility missions suggested
fair rate which is considerably high
er than the company's proposal.
Then, too. the local political lead
ers visited the Commission before
the new sales tax law was passed
and previous to the additional ex-
else tax being levied on the gas
company.
If fair consideration is given by
the tax payers in our village to the
expense that they would have to
bear as a result of the village Off
GERS employing competent engineers
and accountants to appraise the
property of the Ohio Fuel Gas Com
pany which consists Of hundreds OF
thousands of acres of gas producin
lands, thousands Of gas wells, thou
sands of miles of pipe lines in addi-
tion to compressor stations and dis
tribution equipment, certainly the
well-thinking people would rather
hesitate to approve such an enor-
nous burden of expense without
knowing definitely that the village
had at least a chance of winning
their case. The village executives
must have some ideas relative tC
| the merits of such a contemplated
expenditure by the tax payers il
that the officers already have the
advice of the Commission with ref
erence to the fair gas rate. How
ever. the Commission representa-
tives suggested rate of 65 to rs
cents is somewhat in excess of our
compromise rate. We have present
ed statements to the local councils
showing our operating expense and
our revenue. Further, we requested
the municipal officers to verify the
accuracy of our statements with
any qualified body of engineers
Our initial proposal incorporated
rates somewhat befow the average
| rate as was recommended to the To-
cal officials by the Commission. Or.
dinarily if a company offers to sell
| it's commodity at a lesser rate thar
| the Commission recommends as be-
| ing fair, the municipal officers in.
terpret that they have secured {
| bargain for the village users. Fur
| ther, they hastily take advantage Of
suci, opportunities by entering into
such contract with the utility
/ We acceded to the desires of the
village officers by making specia
unwarranted reductions in our ini
tial proposed rate. These conces
sions were made purely to avoid
court litigation in that we were alb
solutely sure of our ability to jus.
tify much higher rate If the case
| was taken to the Commission. II
appears to US, of course, that the
| villages have everything to lose ane
nothing to gain by referring this
problem to the Utilities Commits.
| sion in that the local officers have
already visited that court and have
secured the engineers fair rate fol
| the solving of the local case. The
compromise rate which We have tC
offer is somewhat below the Com
| mission representative figures
Councils counter proposed rate O1
81 for the first 1000 cubic feet and
Is so per 1000 thereafter would re-
suit in our company continuing to
serve it's commodity at loss. The
recent United States supreme court
decision definitely sets forth that a
natural company is justly entitled
to a fair return on its investment
If council passes this confiscatory
rate, we of course will have to i'm
mediately appeal our case to the
Public Utility Commission.
Several of the citizens have ex-
pressed themselves to our represen
tatives to the effect that they were
under the impression that the gas