Interstate Navigation Co. v. Burke

465 A.2d 750, 1983 R.I. LEXIS 1077, 1983 WL 813601
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedAugust 30, 1983
Docket82-258-M.P.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 465 A.2d 750 (Interstate Navigation Co. v. Burke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Interstate Navigation Co. v. Burke, 465 A.2d 750, 1983 R.I. LEXIS 1077, 1983 WL 813601 (R.I. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

WEISBERGER, Justice.

This is a statutory petition for certiorari filed by the Interstate Navigation Company (the company or Interstate) pursuant to G.L.1956 (1977 Reenactment) § 39-5-1. The company challenges the May 14, 1981 decision and interim order of the Public Utilities Commission (the commission) and the final report and order that the commission rendered on May 28, 1982. Both of these orders addressed the proposed tariff that the company filed with the commission on February 24, 1981, in docket No. 1572. In its petition the company contends that the commission erred in several respects when it twice denied the company’s request for rate relief. The pertinent facts are as follows.

Interstate runs a ferry service between points on the mainland and Block Island. *752 Prior to filing the proposed tariff, the company contracted for the construction of a new ship, the Nelseco II (the Nelseco), which would be added to a fleet comprised of the Quonset, the Manisee, the Manitou and the Yankee. The company intended to route all of these vessels, except for the Yankee, between Point Judith and Block Island during the summer of 1981.

The company’s proposed tariff reflected a rate increase in the amount of $179,078. The company estimated that its expenses for fuel and wages would increase significantly in 1981. In addition, the company sought rate relief for interest and depreciation expenses that the company would incur during 1981 because of the addition of the Nelseco to the company’s fleet.

Public hearings were held on April 6, 1981, at the offices of the commission and on May 11, 1981, at the New Shoreham Town Hall. At these hearings, the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers (the division) opposed the company’s proposed rate increase and offered evidence to rebut the company’s projected increases for 1981 in fuel, payroll, interest, and depreciation expenses. The division suggested that the company was entitled to a rate increase of $76,538.

The commission rendered its decision and interim order in docket No. 1572 on May 14, 1981. The commission allowed Interstate increases in fuel and payroll expenses in amounts lower than those that the company had requested but higher than those that the division had proposed. The May 14 decision fully resolved these issues. The company’s request for rate relief in respect to the expenses attributable to the Nelseco, however, posed questions that were not fully adjudicated.

Noting that the Nelseco was not in service during the test year (1980), the commission determined that it could include the ship’s depreciation and interest expenses in the revised tariff only if “the charges are known and measurable for the twelve months ended [sic] December 31, 1981.” After reviewing the company’s justification for including these expenses in the proposed tariff, the commission disallowed them because they were not known and measurable on May 14, 1981. More specifically, the commission held that

“the costs of completing and outfitting the Nelseco II are too speculative at this time but should be reviewed in the near future. * * * We do believe, however, that it will be in the public interest to place the Nelseco II in service and to afford it proper rate treatment as soon as possible.
“Most importantly * * * the Commission feels that it cannot approve some changes without considering all possible revenue increases and expense savings. Therefore, the Commission agrees with the Division and will disallow these expenses until a later time when they are known and measurable.”

The commission therefore issued only an interim order regarding rate relief for the depreciation and interest expenses of the Nelseco.

This order instructed the company to file, no later than September 30, 1981, a complete report of expenses and revenue for the period from January 1,1981, to September 7, 1981. The commission specified that this report should itemize all expenses for constructing and outfitting the Nelseco and should analyze the most efficient use of the company’s vessels for service to Block Island.

The commission awarded Interstate a rate increase of $105,637, which was well below the company’s proposed tariff. The final issue that the commission addressed was the company’s proposed rate design. Although the division had not disputed the company’s plan, the commission ordered the company to apply the rate increase to all categories of passenger-related rates equally. Moreover, motivated by a concern that cargo rates might be unfairly subsidized by passenger-related rates, the commission instructed the company to conduct a cargo rate study, which the company was to file *753 by September 30, 1981, with its 1981 revenue and expense report.

After a continuance, the company filed a report with the commission on October 15, 1981. This report supplied data concerning revenue and expenses for the period January 1, 1981, through September 7, 1981. A balance sheet that was dated September 7, 1981 accompanied the report. However, the company did not file the cargo rate study that the commission had requested in its interim order.

On November 4, 1981, Interstate notified the commission that the company was seeking a rate increase of $73,441 through further proceedings in docket No. 1572. Further, the company asserted that the requested cargo rate study was not feasible. Accordingly, the company requested that the remaining issues be resolved and that the study be deferred to a future docket.

The commission held the first hearing on the company’s requests on March 1, 1982. This hearing dealt solely with the company’s failure to conduct the cargo rate study. Citing the difficulty of conducting such a study during the off season, the company suggested that it be allowed to defer completion of the study until after the expenses for Nelseco were given appropriate rate treatment. The division, on the other hand, interpreted the May 14, 1981 interim order of the commission as requiring the cargo rate study’s completion prior to further proceedings in docket No. 1572. The commission disagreed. Rather, it ordered the division to conduct an audit of Interstate to facilitate the resolution of the remaining issues in the case. The commission, however, instructed the company to complete the cargo rate study prior to any requests for rate relief in future dockets.

Further hearings were held on April 1, 1982, and on April 16, 1982. As they had done in the spring of 1981, representatives of Interstate testified at these hearings in support of the company’s request for rate relief. Similarly, representatives of the division urged the commission to grant no relief to the company for the depreciation and interest expenses attributable to the Nelseco, which started service on the Block Island run on or about July 1, 1981.

The April 1982 hearings disclosed the following evidence. 1 According to the company, the interest expense for the Nelseco

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465 A.2d 750, 1983 R.I. LEXIS 1077, 1983 WL 813601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/interstate-navigation-co-v-burke-ri-1983.