The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-03-13

fCOtLsHuGU UOUt fuyS OfttJ ries with it certain privileges which he indicated are not enjoy ed h-re, such as the right oi "emi nent domain" Faulkner asked what Stuart meant by previous ref erence to a Supreme Court decision upholding the original cost form ula for fixing rates.
 Stuart cited the case known q; the Hope Gas Company Case" To that, Faulkner replied that fl had been brought under an entire y different Congressional act thar he Federal Water Power Act Tn, Hope case, he said, was brought under the Natural Gas Act, whicr deals with an entirely different com modity It applies to all public utilities was the substance oi Stuarts answer Gas is a nature created product, Faulkner pointed out. The factor of depletion is the only point of difference, Stuart averred
 Asked again whether he did not think there is such thing as in- tangible value-in connection with the water right-Stuart answered that he had done as is customary iven them exact values.
 Pinning Stuart down on lis knowledge Of the status of tke Fed -ral Power Commission, Faulkner asked:
 l. If it is not true that the FPC has nothing to do with ratss except in interstate commerce?
 2. If it is not true that tke EPIC has set it's depreciation rules be- cause of the governments 50-year expiration options in FPC licenses
 Stuart admitted then that he has not read all of the act under wkich the FPC operates.
 CcnfuSeS Council
 q thought you knew all about it, Faulkner commented, continuing You have referred to it often enough to confuse the Council. Isn't it true that none of the FPC's rules apply here? Faulkner then asked. They can be used, was the engineers answer.
 Referring to the fact that Stuart had written off entirely three transformers which the light. con- pany obtained from the Alaska Juneau mine at no cost, the con- pany counsel carried that inter- pretation to hypothetical absurdity by asking Stuart what rate base he would use in the case of an ell tire electrict utility that hac been inherited. Stuart was unahls. tc reply.
 Pointing out tnat stuart lad sep arated capital and operation charg- es attributable to Juneau alone from the full system, Faulkner ther asked the engineer if he thought it practical, where two small towns are as close together as Juneau and Douglas, to have two separate rate schedules-perhaps a lower one fol Juneau and a very high one fol Douglas. Stuart replied that two rates, in his belief is the only prac- tical ansWer-that he oannot speak for Douglas.
 WhGt MedSurtng Stick
 Asked what measuring stick oi proper profit percentage he had used in passing charge that AEL &P profits for the year 1924 were too high, Stuart admitted that he had based that allegation on nc set return at all, that it's up to the Council to decide what it wants to adopt as a proper percentage oi profit after all the data is beiore it.
 Stuart had made that charge earl fer in the evening, when at the opening of last nights session, Ec had returned to the slab to throw few final curves, although ht had stated at the close of the pre- vious hearing that he had finished for this stage of the proceeding
 In the beginning, last night Stuart filled in few gaps, anc previously omitted figures and Of fered some corrections to his ex- , hibits. For the base year 1914, lt filled in the depreciation allowance blank at $15,855, which is S1,09 higher than the company had re ported. Meter expense he set a $3,099.71. which is less thar tn company figure. Stuart reached hi meter expense by taking 85 percer of the system amount as applicabl ! to Juneau only and deducted ser l vice charges collected in this city
 Stuart then further explained hi