Opinion ID: 450364
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Clauses and the Status Quo

Text: 35 KG & E also argues that it should not bear the burden of proof because minimum billing demand clauses represent the status quo, and the party opposing the status quo has the burden of proof. KG & E thus seeks to rely on Public Service Comm'n of New York v. FERC (Transco), 642 F.2d 1335 (D.C.Cir.1980), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 879 and 880, 102 S.Ct. 360 and 362, 70 L.Ed.2d 189 (1981). In Transco the court held that FERC was wrong in forcing the utility to bear the burden of proof on the parts of its filing that did not represent a departure from the status quo. [W]e cannot accept the proposition that because a company files for higher rates, it bears the burden of proof on those portions of its filing that represent no departure from the status quo.    Forcing the petitioning company to justify not only the novel portions of its petitions but the unchanged parts as well would seriously increase the burden upon these regulated companies without any corresponding increase in reasoned decisionmaking. Id. at 1345. Emphasizing that it has used minimum billing demand clauses with at least one of its municipal customers since 1961, KG & E claims that the Commission should thus bear the burden in challenging those clauses. 36 However, this case is readily distinguishable from Transco. In Transco the Commission had clearly approved the part of the rate representing the status quo in prior proceedings. Id. at 1342. In this case, in contrast, before the dispute in Docket ER 77-578 the Commission had not squarely addressed KG & E's ratchet/12-CP combination. 11 Furthermore, in Transco the record revealed no reasoning to support the Commission's view that the pre-existing clause was not part of a just and reasonable rate. 12 In this case we have the Commission's considered conclusion that this particular combination tends to operate in an unjust and unreasonable fashion, and that it will therefore be barred unless the utility can make specified showings. Thus in a Transco situation, where the Commission has previously approved the disputed practice and where the Commission lacks a reasoned determination about that practice, there is little discernible benefit in allowing the Commission to impose a burden of proof on the practice's proponent. In the circumstances of this case, however, where the Commission has not previously approved the disputed practice and where the Commission has reasonably found the practice to be unjust and unreasonable unless certain showings are made, the allocation of the burden on the practice's proponent is completely acceptable. For the allocation in such a proceeding not only yields improvements in reasoned decisionmaking--the Transco concern--but also furthers FERC's ability to serve the public interest and determine whether rates are just and reasonable. Cf. Cities of Batavia, supra, 672 F.2d at 77 (Transco does not prevent a court from reviewing a revised rate completely to assure that all its parts--old and new--operate in tandem to insure a 'just and reasonable' result).