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Published October 14, 2008 08:14 pm - The Missouri Public Service Commission will be ordered to set aside a ruling it made in a December 2006 rate case involving Empire District Electric Co. Court voids PSC decision w/ opinion summary By Debby Woodin
dwoodin@joplinglobe.com The Missouri Public Service Commission will be ordered to set aside a ruling it made in a December 2006 rate case involving Empire District Electric Co. But, all the sides in the dispute over a decision by the PSC that granted Empire a 9.63 percent rate increase will have to wait on the Missouri Supreme Court’s final order and then decide how to respond. The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a ruling that the PSC will have to vacate its ruling that Empire was entitled to a rate increase to cover a raise in fuel costs. After the PSC issued that ruling, Empire on Dec. 29, 2006, filed new tariffs to establish the rate increases for residents and businesses, and asked the PSC to expedite the new rates so that they could go into effect Jan. 1, 2007. The increase raised the average residential bill about $10 per month, according to regulators. The PSC allowed the company to enact its new rates on the holiday. Then the office that represents consumers, the Office of Public Counsel, objected. The Office of Public Counsel, when it learned of the new rates, contended that the rates Empire filed did not conform to the PSC’s order. The office also argued that the rates should not have been allowed to go into effect so suddenly over a holiday without a chance for the counsel to review the case and file any objections it might have had. The PSC did not act on the counsel’s complaints, and the counsel then sought a court order. The state’s high court ordered the PSC to vacate its decision that Empire should be granted new rates. The PSC, on Dec. 4, 2007, issued an order saying it had vacated the 2006 order, but it again approved the 2006 tariffs and rates. The counsel went back to court, contending that the PSC did not comply with the court order. As a result, the court was asked to enforce its earlier order, and it heard oral arguments on the issue in May. The opinion the court issued Tuesday will not be final until a mandate, or a court order, is issued enforcing the decision, said Lewis R. Mills Jr., the public counsel. That could take up to 30 days. Mills and Empire disagree on the impact of the ruling. Amy Bass, a spokeswoman for Empire, said Tuesday that the utility believes the court opinion does not void the rate increase. “We think the last two sentences sums it up,” Bass said, quoting the opinion: “‘The commission is directed to comply completely with this court’s previous mandate and opinion. This Court takes no position on the effect such action has on any tariffs the commission has approved.’ 
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