Court Opinion

ID: 9760574
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:00:54.169647+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:13.779736
License: Public Domain

MAUZY, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur in the portion of the court’s opinion that addresses the Railroad Commission’s order in Gas Utilities Docket No. 2690. However, I dissent from the portion that addresses the order in Gas Utilities Docket No. 1913.
In arriving at a rate of return, the hearings examiner applied the same methodology that was used by Moran’s own expert witness. The expert compared the recent 17.6 percent rate of return that the Commission had granted to Entex, Inc. and testified that Moran should be granted a 20 percent rate because it was a smaller utility with more risks. The expert admitted that if he had used a different utility for comparison, he could have arrived at a lower rate of return.
Thus, Moran’s own witness relied upon a rate of return finding made by the Commission in another case. The hearings examiner also relied upon rates of return awarded in other cases before the Commission; however, she used findings made in cases involving utilities other than Entex. Because the findings made in other cases before the Commission are a part of the public record, the hearings examiner could take judicial notice of them. Thus, these findings from other cases in conjunction with the expert’s testimony on methodology constitute substantial evidence to support the 14.5 percent rate of return as calculated by the hearings examiner.
I would therefore reverse the judgment of the court of appeals on this point and affirm the order of the Railroad Commission.