Opinion ID: 2303572
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Wage and Salary Adjustments

Text: The Council maintains that the Commission erred when it failed to reduce wage and salary adjustments made to Narragansett's cost of service because of accompanying increases in the workers' productivity. One of the Council's expert witnesses testified that Narragansett's increase of $684,000 in salaries should be decreased by an employee productivity factor which his studies showed was present. He stressed that his conclusion was based on an ever-increasing sale of power during the years from 1963 through 1972. He took the position that the improvement in the sales picture was due to the employees' extra efforts which in turn were motivated by larger paychecks. In fact, he told the Commission that the productivity had risen to a point where the profits attributable to the increased sales completely offset the additional salary expenses. However, Narragansett's assistant treasurer testified that he had reached a contrary result. He said that after considering the possibility of making some adjustment in this area, he rejected the idea because of the difficulty in measuring productivity. He maintained that there were many factors involved, only one of which related to the increased sales revenue. The Commission acknowledged the difficulty of measuring with any degree of accuracy the productivity factor and concluded that in a day of galloping inflation, productivity has not kept pace with wage payments. The Council contends that such an observation was dehors the record and entitled to no weight. However, we are aware that in the exercise of its quasi-judicial functions the Commission has developed an expertise in the discharge of its administrative responsibilities to the point that it may certainly take administrative notice of what is generally accepted in the market place as fact. See, Mullins v. Finch, 319 F. Supp. 588 (D. Va. 1970). The inclusion or exclusion of a productivity factor in ascertaining the full impact of the increased salaries and wages paid the utility's employees was an issue subject to a difference of opinion. The Commission found that Narragansett's assistant treasurer was more persuasive than the Council's expert. Its refusal to include a productivity offset in the wage and salary item finds support in the evidence. Rhode Island Consumers' Council v. Smith, supra . We see no error.