Attorney General v. Department of Public Utilities

The impact of the court’s decision in this case is to make the ratepayers of Boston Edison Company the guarantors of business decisions in which neither they nor the Department of Public Utilities (department) had a voice. The court upholds a split decision of the three commissioners of the department and, thus, requires ratepayers to pay, over a period of years as part of their cost of service, for a project from which they have received no benefit or service whatsoever.

Many years ago, this court recognized the reason for public regulation of utility rates, saying “we have adopted, *235in this…