Court Opinion

ID: 9770342
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 15:59:03.157052+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:16.565480
License: Public Domain

Wendell L. Griffen, Judge, concurring. I would have been happy to reverse the Public Service Commission’s decision on appellant’s second point. However, I am forced to conclude, as Judge Rogers has written in the majority opinion, that the Arkansas General Assembly apparently decided not to confer the power to award attorneys’ fees to the Commission when it enacted Act 758 of 1985. I cannot ignore the plain fact that the General Assembly deleted language in House Bill 393 that would have authorized the Commission to award attorneys’ fees when it enacted Act 758. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the Commission’s power to regulate public utilities will only be enhanced if the legislature authorizes it to award attorneys’ fees in appropriate cases. The ordinary ratepayer will almost always have too small a pecuniary interest at stake to justify the significant cost of challenging an allegedly excessive utility rate. Yet, such challenges, when successful, produce benefits to a range of ratepayers and serve the public interest in fair utility rates. Unless the legislature confers the power to award attorneys’ fees, it is obvious that potential challenges to allegedly excessive utility rates will go unasserted.