Opinion ID: 2332011
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Commuting Expense

Text: Casco's proposed expenses for ratemaking purposes included $4,090.29 for auto and bus expenses. The Commission disallowed $1,095 of this amount, which was associated with the commuting expenses of Mr. McLaughlin, Casco's vice president and general manager. Casco asserts that the Commission's action renders its rates confiscatory. We sustain the Commission on this issue. Mr. McLaughlin lives ten miles from his Casco office and is supplied with a company car because he is on call seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. He uses the car to travel to work at the Casco office, for which Casco claims $.15 per mile as an expense. The Commission disallowed $1,095 (20 miles/day × 365 days × $.15/mile) in such commuting expense, stating: Commuting expenses of utility employees are not proper expenses to be charged to the ratepayers. That Mr. McLaughlin chooses to live ten miles from work should not affect the rates customers pay for CBL's services. Re Casco Bay Lines, supra at 177. Casco does not challenge the figures as applied in the Commission's computation (e. g. $.15 per mile or 365 days per year of commuting). Rather, it challenges the Commission's disallowance of such commuting expenses in general. We find no merit in Casco's arguments. We find no error in the Commission's action on this issue.