Interstate Telephone Cooperative, Inc. v. Public Utilities Commission

1. The Public Utilities Commission is not properly bound by precedent in a similar matter.

The pivotal issue in this case is whether an administrative agency—a public service commission charged with the protection of the consuming public—is bound by precedent in a similar matter. In the present case, the *754record shows that the members of the PUC incorrectly felt strictly bound by precedent. Thus, the decision of the PUC in this matter was based on an error of law. This error is compounded by the majority’s refusal to allow the commissioners to decide this matter unbounded by the shackles of…