Regulating the Quality of Public Utility Service
| DOI | 10.1177/000271621405300124 |
| Author | J.N. Cadby |
| Date | 01 May 1914 |
| Published date | 01 May 1914 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
262
REGULATING
THE
QUALITY
OF
PUBLIC
UTILITY
SERVICE
By
J.
N.
CADBY,
E.E.,
In
charge
of
the
Department
of
Public
Utility
Service
of
the
Wisconsin
Railroad
Commission.
The
popular
conception
of
the
usefulness
of
a
public
utility
com-
mission
and
of
the
relative
importance
of
its
various
functions
is
un-
dergoing
a
change.
Occasionally
these
bodies
are
spoken
of
as
&dquo;rate
commissions,&dquo;
but
as
they
become
more
thoroughly
established,
it
becomes
apparent
that
rate
regulation
is
not
their
only
important
function.
Thus
far
it
has
only
been
possible
to
revise
rates
by
mak-
ing
rather
elaborate
investigations
of
the
individual
utilities
con-
cerned,
and
consequently
relatively
few
people
have
been
benefited
by
rate
revisions
during
the
first
few
years
under
commission
regula-
tion.
In
any
large
group
of
utilities
some
will
be
found
where
rate
wars
or
other
conditions
have
brought
about
abnormally
low
rates.
These
utilities
are
naturally
among
the
first
to
apply
for
readjust-
ment
and
thus
the
general
effect
of
the
first
few
years’
work
meas-
ured
by
rate
reductions
alone
is
often
rather
discouraging
to
those
advocating
commission
regulation
of
public
utilities.
The
authority
of
commissions
to
regulate
the
quality
of
service
furnished
by
the
utilities
gives
an
opportunity
to
benefit
practically
all
consumers
of
public
utility
service
from
the
first.
The
service
is
improved
from
the
time
the
utilities
and
commission’s
staff
begin
discussing
and
con-
sidering
standards
of
service.
Where
the
quality
of
service
is
not
regulated,
a
reduction
in
rates
may
be
followed
by
a
reduction
in
quality
of
service
and
in
this
way
the
commission’s
order
may
be
even
worse
than
valueless.
Reduction
in
gas
rates
could
be
counter-
acted
or
more
than
counteracted
by
a
reduction
in
heat
value.
The
laws
in
many
states
give
the
commissions
authority
to
regulate
the
service
furnished
by
public
utilities,
but
some
prescribe,
to
a
greater
or
less
extent,
the
quality
of
service
to
be
furnished
and
the
methods
to
be
employed
by
the
commission
in
order
to
main-
tain
this
service.
Perhaps
the
most
common
example
of
this
feature
in
a
public
utilities
law
is
that
of
requiring
the
commission
to
test
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