Court Opinion

ID: 9549554
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:20:54.359058+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:20:29.718569
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Pringle
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
I would order the trial court to remand the matter to the Public Utilities Commission for the purpose of entering a valid order. It is my view that there is no valid order of the Public Utilities Commission dismissing the complaint of Southeast Colorado Power Association, Inc. The purported order in this case is signed by Commissioner Zarlengo alone. His findings to support that order appear in his opinion. Commissioner Bjelland dissented. Commissioner Horton in a separate opinion concurred in the “end result” reached by Commissioner Zarlengo in his opinion, but Commissioner Horton made it clear that he did not reach that “end result” by the same method that the Commissioner purportedly writing for the Commission did. Why Commissioner Horton thinks Western Power and Gas Company should be given the preference to serve the customer rather than Southeast we are not told.
There is, in my view, therefore, no agreement in this *354case of two Commissioners as to any reason for the purported order. It could very well be that Commissioner Horton’s “end result” was dictated by conclusions not legally supportable in which event his concurrence in the result would have no legal efficacy, for administrative orders in this state have no validity unless supported by legally acceptable reasons. Sherratt v. Rocky Mountain Fuel Co., 94 Colo. 269, 30 P.2d 270.