Court Opinion

ID: 9550322
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:33:59.786376+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:21:23.543149
License: Public Domain

CARDINE, Justice,
specially concurring, with whom MACY, Justice, joins.
I concur in the opinion of the court because ordinance number 16-85 was not within the power conferred upon the City by the legislature in amending and reenacting chapter 172, Session Laws of Wyoming 1985, entitled Natural Gas Franchises, § 15-1-103, W.S.1977, as amended. Appellant K N Energy, Inc. was supplying natural gas to residents of the City of Casper through its gas distribution system at a cost which appellee claimed far exceeded the price at which gas could be purchased in the open market and supplied to K N Energy. It was the intent of the legislature in amending and reenacting § 15-1-103 to empower the City (and other municipalities) to arrange for a less expensive source of gas and provide for delivery of such less expensive gas to its franchisee, K N Energy, Inc., for distribution through K N Energy’s gas distribution system to customers in the municipalities.
A public utility must satisfy two requirements precedent to the exercise of privileges of a public utility in a municipality in the State of Wyoming. A public utility must obtain from the public service commission a certificate of convenience and necessity, as provided by § 37-2-205, W.S. 1977, and must obtain a franchise from the municipality, as required by Art. 13, § 4, Wyoming Constitution and § 15-1-103(a)(xxxiii), W.S.1977, as amended. The franchise under which K N Energy operates in the City of Casper expired December 31, 1984. The City of Casper has not renewed the franchise of K N Energy. K N Energy, then, has been oper*228ating illegally without a franchise in the City of Casper.
Section 15-1-103(a)(xxxiii)(C), as amended, provides that:
“The governing bodies of all cities * * * may * * * [u]pon renewal * * * provide in the franchise that the franchisee shall furnish a gas distribution system through which any supplier, including the franchisee, may sell and distribute natural gas as provided by subsection (b) 8c # * »
Section 15-1-103 then provides that the question of whether or not another supplier could supply gas to the franchisee’s system must be submitted to and approved by a majority of the electors of the city; that the public utility continue to be regulated by the public service commission and be compensated for non-gas costs in the delivery; that the public service commission adopt and enforce minimum quality standards for gas delivered; that the gas offered for delivery to the public utility be sufficient to supply ten years of demand; and other requirements, including reporting to the public sendee commission.
I find § 15-1-103, as amended, entirely appropriate as within the scheme of franchising the creation, construction and operation of public utilities in the State of Wyoming. Section 15-1-103(a)(xxxiii) provides that
“no franchise may be entered into with any person in which that person is given an exclusive right for any purpose whatsoever * * (Emphasis added.)
Because the statute prohibits issuance of an exclusive franchise, the City of Casper could (a) issue a franchise to another utility; (b) itself construct distribution lines alongside those of appellant and compete with appellant for customers purchasing gas; (c) condemn appellant's gas distribution system as provided in § 15-1-103(a)(xxxiii)(C), which makes reference to “renewal after condemnation of a franchise”; or (d) require that its franchisee accept gas from another supplier and distribute it through its gas distribution system. The statute, as amended, seems clearly to further a state policy promoting competition among gas suppliers and distributors toward an end result that gas be furnished to Wyoming residents at the fairest and least expensive cost obtainable. K N Energy presently has no competition in supplying gas to residents of the municipality of Casper. The possibility of competition, however, is always present, and that is a benefit to purchasers of gas that is intended by our constitutional and statutory scheme for regulating public utilities.
Section 15-1-103, as amended, left the licensing power and supervisory and regulatory authority in the public service commission as provided in Title 37, Wyoming Statutes, 1977. The City of Casper attempted, in ordinance number 16-85, to assume supervisory, regulatory, and licensing functions not granted the City by enactment of amended § 15-1-103. Had the City of Casper exercised only those powers granted in § 15-1-103 and already discussed, I would have no hesitancy in upholding its ordinance.