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ACT I, SCENE SIX (Fair Profits)
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CHARACTERS
- LOUDSPEAKER
CONSUMER
CHAIRMAN
FIRST DIRECTOR
SECOND DIRECTOR
THIRD DIRECTOR
FOURTH DIRECTOR
WITNESS
FIRST COMMISSIONER Utilities Commission
SECOND COMMISSIONER
MANAGER of Electric Company
(Light on CONSUMER. He paces back and forth. Suddenly he stops, and points up to the LOUDSPEAKER....)
CONSUMER (to LOUDSPEAKER): Excuse me, can I ask you a few questions? You said the courts allow the company to make a fair profit.
LOUDSPEAKER: Right.
CONSUMER: And a fair profit is anywhere from six to nine per cent. [Public Utility Rate Fixing, C. F. Grunsky, 1918.]
LOUDSPEAKER: Right.
CONSUMER: Of what? Six to nine per cent of what?
LOUDSPEAKER: Of their capital account!
CONSUMER: What's that?
LOUDSPEAKER: The amount of their investment, operating expenses, maintenance, and so forth. This determines your electric rates and is known as a rate base.
CONSUMER: I see. Then if their capital account is bigger, my rates go up!
LOUDSPEAKER: Right.
CONSUMER: And if it's smaller? (Motions downward with his thumb.)
LOUDSPEAKER: Right again. (A pause. The CONSUMER rubs his chin reflectively; soon a shrewd look appears in his eye.)
CONSUMER (hesitantly): Of course I don't want to suspect anybody — to me everybody's as honest as the day is long.
LOUDSPEAKER: Of course.
CONSUMER (very timidly): Just the same, would it be all right if I — that is — do you suppose they'd let me have a look at the books — just a quick one?
LOUDSPEAKER: Certainly not! But you can ask the Power Commission for an investigation!
CONSUMER (joyfully): Can I?
LOUDSPEAKER: They just got through with one in New York.
CONSUMER (excitedly): What'd they find?
LOUDSPEAKER: Oh, a lot of things, but principally the Mack Utility Investigating Committee in New York State found that sometimes... [New York Herald Tribune, December 19, 1935.]
(First traveler curtain opens and stage, right, lights up on a Board of Directors. CHAIRMAN stands addressing the Board.)
CHAIRMAN: Gentlemen, our properties have been appraised at four million dollars.
FIRST DIRECTOR (chuckling): Well, we haven't depreciated much.
CHAIRMAN: Do you realize this may mean a rate cut? (The DIRECTORS look disturbed.)
CHAIRMAN: Now I have a proposal... We must hire another firm of appraisers.
SECOND DIRECTOR: And pay another half-million-dollar fee?
CHAIRMAN: Certainly — and more if we have to! Are you forgetting, gentlemen, that our rates are based on what we spend, on our capital account? (He raps his knuckles on the table. A pause.)
THIRD DIRECTOR (who has been thinking, his chin in his hand): Say, what about those old trucks we've got piled up at Plant 16?
FOURTH DIRECTOR: They won't run any more!
CHAIRMAN (suavely): Gentlemen, they have all been included in the rate base — at the price we paid for them.
THIRD DIRECTOR: It seems to me we ought to have some more old junk lying around some place.... [New York Times, February l, 1935, et supra.]
(Blackout. First traveler curtain closes, leaving CONSUMER in front of curtain.)
CONSUMER (excitedly): Did that actually happen?
LOUDSPEAKER: Certainly!
CONSUMER (excitedly): You mean they can spend any amount of money on anything they like and throw in all that old junk besides, and I pay for it?
LOUDSPEAKER: It all appears in your rate base.
CONSUMER (pacing furiously): I'm going to do something about this!
LOUDSPEAKER: Wait. Listen to this. An expert for the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey is testifying at a Utilities Commission rate hearing. [Coleman McAlister, "Victory in New Jersey," The Nation, July 31, 1935, P 133.]
(First traveler curtain opens. Lights on a WITNESS, left, talking before two COMMISSIONERS. A picture of a hearing room is projected.)
WITNESS: ...and I believe this company's rates are justified. It should be remembered that under the company's going values there should be included and capitalized in the rate base the George Washington Bridge, the Holland Tunnel, the highway system of the State and the flourishing birth rate of the thirteen counties which the company serves!
FIRST COMMISSIONER: But the company does not own these things!
SECOND COMMISSIONER: And what has the birth rate to do with electric rates?
WITNESS (slowly and seriously): All of these things make a rich territory and the company has every right to levy tribute upon it!
(Blackout, stage left. CONSUMER, stage center, talks to LOUDSPEAKER.)
CONSUMER: You mean all these things appear in my rate base?
LOUDSPEAKER: Yes.
CONSUMER: And I've got to pay accordingly?
LOUDSPEAKER: Yes.
CONSUMER (excitedly): Why — why — why —
(Starts off, right. Lights come up on Electric Company MANAGER at desk, right.)
MANAGER: Would you like me to discontinue service?
CONSUMER (apologetically): Oh — er — no — never mind.
Blackout
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