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United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Memphis Light, Gas, & Water Division
''United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Memphis Light, Gas, and Water Division'', , is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court interpreted the Natural Gas Act of 1938 (NGA) as allowing a gas supply company to unilaterally modify a rate in a natural gas supply contract if the contract specified that the rate was that of the rate schedule filed with the Federal Power Commission (FPC) and the gas company filed a new rate schedule. This case clarified the ''Mobile-Sierra'' doctrine established by ''United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Mobile Gas Service Corp.'' (1956) and its companion case ''Federal Power Commission v. Sierra Pacific Power Co.'' (1956), which holds that an electricity or natural gas supply rate established resulting from a freely negotiated contract is presumed to be "just and reasonable" and thus acceptable under the NGA or Federal Power Act (FPA).
==Background==
The NGA was enacted in 1938 to regulate the interstate natural gas industry, including gas pipeline companies. The NGA regulated the rates charged by gas companies to their customers, which included local gas distribution companies and industrial users, through the filing by gas companies of rate schedules and contracts with customers. The NGA required gas companies to file tariffs of their new rates with the FPC, a federal administrative agency, at least thirty days prior to their becoming effective, and authorized the FPC to investigate rates to determine if they were in the public interest. The FPC could also suspend rates except for those involving gas supplied to industrial users while the investigating the rates.
The United Gas Pipe Line Co., a natural gas pipeline company that operated in several states and was subject to regulation under the NGA, provided gas under long term contracts to distribution companies such as the Texas Gas Transportation Corp., Southern Natural Gas Co., and the Mississippi Valley Gas Co. The Memphis Light, Gas, and Water Division (MLGW), a distribution system in Memphis, Tennessee, purchased gas from Texas Gas under a contract in which MLGW was required to reimburse Texas Gas for any increases in the cost of gas provided by United Gas. Each of these contracts had a clause which specified that the rate for the gas was that on the United Gas rate schedule on file with the FPC or any effective rate schedule. On September 30, 1955, United Gas filed a new rate schedule with the FPC which proposed to increase the contract rates. The FPC suspended the rates as provided in the NGA and initiated an administrative proceeding to determine the lawfulness of the new rate schedule. The distribution companies and MLG&W intervened in the proceeding. After the Supreme Court issued its ''Mobile Gas'' decision which held that the unilateral filing of a new rate schedule could not abrogate a gas contract with a specified rate on February 27, 1956, the distribution companies and MLGW moved to dismiss the new rate schedule. The FPC upheld the new rate schedule on the basis that the distribution companies had contracted to essentially pay the "going" rate on the effective United Gas rate schedule, and distinguished ''Mobile Gas'' as applying to gas contracts with a fixed rate.
The distribution companies and MLGW appealed the decision to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which then reversed the FPC in an opinion which held that ''Mobile Gas'' had established that the FPC could review the new rate schedule only if the customers of a gas company consented to the filing of the schedule. The Supreme Court granted certiorari based on a claim that the Court of Appeals misunderstood the ''Memphis Gas'' decision.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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