Opinion ID: 1984859
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Public Service Commission Act

Text: The PSC next asserts that § 6 of the public service commission act, M.C.L. § 460.6; MSA 22.13(6), grants it broad authority over all matters pertaining to public utilities, including the power to order retail wheeling. In 1939, the Legislature enacted the public service commission act to abolish the public utilities commission and transfer its powers and duties to the newly created public service commission. Huron Portland Cement, supra at 264-265, 88 N.W.2d 492. The provision on which the PSC relies provides: The public service commission is vested with complete power and jurisdiction to regulate all public utilities in the state except a municipally owned utility, the owner of a renewable resource power production facility as provided in section 6d, and except as otherwise restricted by law. The public service commission is vested with the power and jurisdiction to regulate all rates, fares, fees, charges, services, rules, conditions of service, and all other matters pertaining to the formation, operation, or direction of public utilities. The public service commission is further granted the power and jurisdiction to hear and pass upon all matters pertaining to, necessary, or incident to the regulation of public utilities, including electric light and power companies, whether private, corporate, or cooperative; water, telegraph, oil, gas, and pipeline companies; motor carriers; and all public transportation and communication agencies other than railroads and railroad companies. This Court has consistently held, however, that the broad language of § 6 serves as an outline of the PSC's jurisdiction, not a grant of specific powers. The broad language [of § 6] furnishes no grant of specific powers. It is an outline of jurisdiction in the commission and does not purport to be more. If, indeed, the general language quoted had the effect of vesting particular, specific, powers in the commission, not only would a constitutional question be presented arising from an asserted lack of standards ..., but there would have been no need whatever for the many statutes enacted (both before and after the effective date of PA 1939, No 3) vesting specific powers in the commission. [ Huron Portland Cement, supra at 263, 88 N.W.2d 492. [9] ] We adhered to this construction of § 6 in Union Carbide, supra at 147, 428 N.W.2d 322. Since the PSC has only those powers granted by statute and § 6 furnishes no grant of specific powers, § 6 provides no support for the PSC's order in this case.