Court Opinion

ID: 9849949
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:50:06.153965+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:29.585362
License: Public Domain

HOWE, Justice
(dissenting):
I dissent. U.C.A., 1953, § 54-4-1 expressly gives the Public Service Commission broad powers to regulate public utilities in this state and to supervise all of their business:
The commission is hereby vested with power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate every public utility in this state, and to supervise all of the business of every such public utility in this state, and to do all things, whether herein specifically designated or in addition thereto, which are necessary or convenient in the exercise of such power and jurisdiction ....
(Italics added.) The majority concedes that the PSC may determine the rates Mountain Fuel charges its customers and that reasonably included in that authority is the power to determine what advertising expenses may be passed on by Mountain Fuel to its customers. Certainly if that is true (and I agree it is), the PSC can reasonably and conveniently disclose that determination to the consuming public. The tagline requirement is that means of disclosure.
In its findings, the PSC found that complaints regarding advertising by utilities constitute a substantial percentage of the daily complaints that the PSC receives from consumers. It further found that because of the rapid and alarming rate of increase of energy costs, consumers are aware of expenses of utilities which are reflected in higher charges to the consumer; that every time they view, read or hear a message or advertisement from a regulated utility they are so reminded. Although the total advertising expense per consumer included in rates in 1980 was only $1.65 for Mountain Fuel and $2.06 for Utah Power & Light Co., the public perception is that advertising costs are a much greater factor in rising utility bills. Con*862sumers do not readily understand why monopolistic utilities need spend any money advertising.
With that backdrop the PSC held a hearing in 1980 to consider the adoption of the advertising standards set forth in the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), 16 U.S.C. §§ 2601, et seq. Following the hearing, the PSC issued its Report and Order in which it substantially adopted the standards with the requirement that in “promotional, institutional and political” advertising the source of funds for such advertisement should be clearly identified therein. Promotional, institutional and political advertising was excluded in the rule from utility expenses in the determination of rates.
The role of the PSC is a delicate one, balancing the interests of the consumers against the problem of utilities in providing adequate supplies of energy at an ever-increasing cost to them. The PSC can serve the public interest by promoting the exchange of information regarding rates. Rather than force interested consumers to come to the PSC to learn what advertising costs go into rates, it is reasonable and convenient for the PSC to require this fact to be made known on the advertising itself. Public exposure to utility costs serves to throw light on a subject where consumer ignorance breeds mistrust. The PSC does not censor or suppress any advertising of any utility. The utilities remain free to advertise when, where and what they will. Only that advertising which is not paid for by the consumers is identified by a tag line. The utilities should be anxious to comply since compliance can only result in increased good will for them.
The majority opinion relies primarily upon a case decided by an intermediate court of appeal, Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Co. v. Davis, 43 Or.App. 999, 608 P.2d 547 (1979), as authority for denying the PSC the power to impose a tagline requirement. In my judgment that case is of doubtful precedent since the court there relied upon an earlier Oregon case which had held that the State Board of Pharmacy could not by rule prohibit the public advertising of prescription drugs. As pointed out by Judge Roberts in her dissent in Pacific Northwest Bell, denying a competitive profession the right to advertise is quite a different thing than requiring a regulated monopolistic public utility to communicate with its customers about a cost which may be passed on to them.
I view the tagline requirement as a necessary and convenient adjunct to the powers of the PSC to regulate the business of utilities with its consumers under § 54-4-1. Contrary to the assertion in the majority opinion that there exist alternate methods, the PSC expressly found that there was no other effective way to communicate with consumers as to the source of funding for advertising than the tagline requirement. We should accord great weight to this conclusion since it falls within the expertise of the PSC to determine that matter. The majority too narrowly views the “necessary or convenient” powers conferred by the legislature on that body.
STEWART, J., does not participate herein; J. DENNIS FREDERICK, District Judge, sat.