Sierra Pacific Power Company v. Nye

389 P.2d 387, 80 Nev. 88, 1964 Nev. LEXIS 125
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 19, 1964
Docket4654, 4655
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 389 P.2d 387 (Sierra Pacific Power Company v. Nye) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sierra Pacific Power Company v. Nye, 389 P.2d 387, 80 Nev. 88, 1964 Nev. LEXIS 125 (Neb. 1964).

Opinions

OPINION

By the Court,

McNamee, J.:

This is an action to recover certain sums of money allegedly overpaid by the Nyes to the Sierra Pacific [90]*90Power Company. The case was submitted to the lower court on stipulated facts. The court adopted said stipulated facts as its findings of fact and concluded therefrom that the Nyes were entitled to judgment in the sum of $8,484.84. It refused to allow the sum of $4,034.77, which was the amount of the overpayment made more than four years prior to the filing of the complaint, and it refused to allow the Nyes any interest.

The Power Company appealed from the judgment and the Nyes cross-appealed from the judgment denying them a recovery of said $4,034.77 and denying them interest.

The agreed facts are as follows (the Nyes will be referred to as plaintiffs and the Power Company as defendant):

Plaintiffs, since May 15, 1955, have been the owners of the Pony Express Trailer Park in Sparks, consisting of 110 rental spaces for trailers, plus buildings incidental thereto. Defendant is a public utility authorized by the Public Service Commission to sell electricity to consumers.

Pursuant to regulations, defendant filed its rates for the sale of electricity with the Public Service Commission, among which were a Schedule C rate and a Schedule K rate. Plaintiffs’ predecessor in interest, Harold’s Club, was charged the K rate. When plaintiffs purchased the trailer park on May 15, 1955, the defendant changed the trailer park to the C rate and continued to charge for power used by plaintiffs under that rate until May 5, 1961, when plaintiffs made application to defendant to be placed under Schedule K. They were placed under Schedule K effective as of that date. The difference between the C and K rates for the amount of power used by the plaintiffs between June 1, 1955 and May 5, 1961 amounted to $12,519.61, of which $4,-034.77 was for the power used during the period of more than four years prior to the filing of the complaint. Upon defendant’s refusal to reimburse the plaintiffs for any part of this difference, this action was commenced.

At all times prior to April 4, 1961 defendant had had an unwritten policy which it had formulated and adopted [91]*91of not serving trailer parks under its Schedule K;1 no rule or regulation authorizing or approving such a policy had been filed with the Public Service Commission, nor has said Commission any rule denying Schedule K to trailer parks.

On April 4, 1961 the case of Eikelberger v. Sierra Pacific Power Company was decided by the Commission. In that case it was held that the owner of a trailer park was entitled to Schedule K if the park had a total connected load exceeding 20 horsepower. Until this decision, plaintiffs did not know of the existence of the K schedule, nor of defendant’s unwritten and unfiled rule or policy. At all times since plaintiffs purchased the trailer park they have owned the transformer located on their property and have had a total connected load in excess of 20 horsepower.

The power sold by defendant to plaintiffs and delivered at plaintiffs’ trailer park was by plaintiffs resold to various trailer owners in their park. Plaintiffs have never secured a certificate of public convenience from the Public Service Commission.2

In its written decision the lower court after reciting the stipulated facts and considering the briefs determined the five points raised by the defendant as hereinafter stated.

1. Is a power company bound to sell power to others for resale?

The court answered this question in the affirmative where the resale is not to the public but only to the buyer’s tenants.

2. Where there are two optional rates is a public utility bound to select a rate most favorable to the consumer?

The court answered this “Yes,” stating that the plaintiffs were entitled to the K rate as a matter of right, because they owned their transformer and the C rate [92]*92is not applicable where the consumer owns the transformer.

3. What damages are the plaintiffs entitled to recover ?

The damages are the difference between the K and C rate.

4. Is the four-year statute of limitations applicable?

Yes.

5. Is interest allowable on the recoverable overpayment?

The lower court refused to allow interest.

The same five points are urged on these appeals.

The contention that defendant was not bound to sell its power to the plaintiffs because they intended to resell the same to their tenants is without merit. It was customary and usual for defendant to serve most trailer parks by delivering electricity to the owner and not by serving each trailer individually. In serving the individual trailer, the owner of the trailer park could charge a rate higher than that paid to the utility, not in excess however of the maximum rate on resale fixed by the rules of the Public Service Commission.

Under the decision in the Eikelberger case the owner of a trailer park was and is entitled to Schedule K if qualified as a K user. At all times since acquiring the trailer park, plaintiffs were qualified as K users, having had a total connected load exceeding 20 horsepower, and having been the owners of the transformer on their property, the high voltage service line, and the underground lines to the individual units.

As a result of the Eikelberger decision all trailer courts in the Reno-Sparks area were placed under Schedule K. Thus, there can be no question that a power company must sell to those trailer park owners qualified as K users under Schedule K even though there is a resale of the power to the trailer park tenants. The plaintiffs by restricting the resale of power to their tenants only did not become competitors of the utility. In fact, in making such distribution of this power they accommodated the utility by assuming the duties of the [93]*93maintenance of the individual meters and the connecting lines thereto, the reading of the meters, and the billing and collection of charges, all of which otherwise would have been the obligations of the defendant. Authorities cited by the defendant which hold that a utility is not required to sell its product to a competitor for resale by the latter to other parties are not applicable.

Defendant contends that NRS 704.320 contemplates that where one purchases power for resale it would be under contract and not according to the regular rate. This statute is restricted in its application to public utilities and we hold it was not intended to apply to trailer courts which resell power to their tenants only.

It is questionable whether the two schedules were optional. Assuming however that a trailer park owner had the option of selecting either schedule, it would then become the duty of the utility to inform the customer of the optional schedules in order to enable the customer to select the schedule more beneficial to him. Here the utility acted wrongfully in making the selection itself, a selection which resulted in a material benefit to the utility, without notifying the plaintiffs of their right to a schedule more advantageous to them.

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Sierra Pacific Power Company v. Nye
389 P.2d 387 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
389 P.2d 387, 80 Nev. 88, 1964 Nev. LEXIS 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sierra-pacific-power-company-v-nye-nev-1964.