State ex rel. Knight v. Public Service Commission

Neely, Justice:

This action in prohibition challenges the constitutionality of W.Va. Code, 24-2-4 [1974]1 which authorizes a *449public utility to charge rate increases before a final determination of the legitimacy of those increases by the Public Service Commission. This action arises in prohibition but we are not quite certain what it is that the relator would have us prohibit, as the statutory scheme in West *450Virginia permits proposed rate increases to go into effect after one hundred and fifty days absent any action by the Public Service Commission. We shall assume ar-guendo, however, for the…