Public Service Commission v. Great Northern Utilities Co.

By this appeal we are called 1 on to decide whether an order of the commission prescribing specific, as distinguished from maximum, rates to be charged for natural gas furnished by a public utility, is repugnant to the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment..

The appellee, authorized by a non-exclusive franchise ordinance, has been engaged since 1923 in furnishing natural gas to consumers in Shelby, a Montana city having a population of about 2,000. It has an adequate distribution system. September 21, 1927, the commission instituted an inquiry as to the reasonableness of its rates.…