Opinion ID: 2398514
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Amortization of Standpipe Maintenance

Text: In its filing, the company proposed to amortize its expense in maintaining standpipe over 7 years. This proposal was rejected by the commission which reduced the annual expenditure for such maintenance by amortizing the periodic maintenance expense over 10 years. Nothing is offered in the decision and order in the way of evidentiary facts, or reasons to support this conclusion. Thus there is no sufficient basis upon which this court may assess the lawfulness or reasonableness of the decision in this respect. Although the commission's brief makes reference to testimony which would tend to support the 10-year amortization plan, we do not base our conclusion upon briefs but upon the commission's report and order. The reason for requiring that the commission set forth its findings with some degree of specificity is as much to protect the rights of the interested parties as it is to enable this court to render decisions on the lawfulness and reasonableness of commission decisions. If we were to base our considerations upon facts identified in a brief but not in the decision, we would, in effect, be according the brief a status not unlike that of a supplemental decision. If the commission is not required to fulfill its duty in the first instance, that is, in the decision and order, it would be unfair to the parties whose rights hang in the balance.