Central States Electric Co. v. City of Muscatine

The primary purpose of Congress in passing the Natural Gas Act was to protect ultimate consumers of gas from excessive prices. Federal Power Commission v. Hope Natural Gas Co., 320 U. S. 591, 610, 612. The Court’s decision today defeats that Congressional purpose, for under its interpretation of the Act the petitioner, a retail gas distributor, is awarded a windfall,1 at the expense of the very consumers the Act was designed to protect.

On September 23, 1938, a petition praying for reduction of the wholesale gas rates of the Natural Gas Pipeline Company was filed with the Federal Power…