428 N.E.2d 856
No. 81-423Supreme Court of Ohio.
Decided December 2, 1981.
Public Utilities Commission — Railroad companies — Increase in freight charges — Unreasonable, when.
APPEAL from The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
Appellants, Norfolk Western Railway Co. (Norfolk Western) and Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), filed a schedule reflecting increased rates for intrastate freight service. The schedule included a seven percent increase in freight charges for metallurgical coal and a nine percent increase in freight charges for steam coal.
Ohio Power Company filed a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission (commission), appellee herein, alleging that the nine percent increase in steam coal rates was “discriminatory, unjust and unreasonable to Ohio Power and its customers and is unsupported by the cost of rendering such service.” The commission instituted an investigation and conducted a hearing to determine whether the increased rate was reasonable.
At the hearing before the commission, appellants submitted a cost-analysis report prepared by Norfolk Western and testimony from appellants’ staff in support of the rate increase. No independent cost-analysis study was provided. Thereafter, the commission determined that the nine percent increase in steam coal rates was unreasonable and fixed a new rate, reducing the increase to seven percent.
The cause is now before this court upon an appeal as of right.
Mr. Richard W. Kienle and Mr. John A. Daily, for appellants.
Mr. William J. Brown, attorney general, Mr. Marvin I. Resnik
and Mr. Donn D. Rosenblum, for appellee.
Per Curiam.
Appellants primarily contend that Norfolk Western’s cost analysis constituted uncontroverted
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evidence that the nine percent increase would not cover the actual cost of service and that the commission acted unlawfully in refusing to accept that evidence as proof that the rate was reasonable.
The commission is given broad discretion in determining the weight to be given to evidence before it. See Boyle-Midway v Pub. Util. Comm. (1971), 25 Ohio St.2d 11; Armco Steel Corp. v Pub. Util. Comm. (1968), 16 Ohio St.2d 144; Ohio Coal Assn. v Pub. Util. Comm. (1955), 164 Ohio St. 108.
Given the record evidence, this court finds that the commission did not abuse its discretion in determining that the nine percent increase in the steam coal rates was unreasonable.[*]
Accordingly, the order of the commission being neither unreasonable nor unlawful is affirmed.
Order affirmed.
CELEBREZZE, C.J., W. BROWN, SWEENEY, LOCHER, HOLMES, C. BROWN and KRUPANSKY, JJ., concur.
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