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''United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Mobile Gas Service Corp.'', , is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court interpreted the Natural Gas Act of 1938 (NGA) as not allowing a gas supply company to unilaterally modify rates in a natural gas supply contract by filing a new rate schedule with the Federal Power Commission (FPC). ''Mobile Gas'' and its companion case ''Federal Power Commission v. Sierra Pacific Power Co.'' established the ''Mobile-Sierra'' presumption 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. In 1946 the Ideal Cement Company wanted to construct a cement plant in Mobile, Alabama. The local natural gas distribution company, Mobile Gas Service Company, entered into a ten year contract with the United Gas Pipe Line Company to obtain gas at 10.7 cents per thousand cubic feet (MCF), which was at a substantially lower price than that charged for other gas customers, so that it could then provide the gas to the cement plant at 12 cents per MCF. The contract between Mobile Gas and United Gas was filed with and approved by the FPC, and became part of the tariff and contracts on file for United Gas. In June 1953 United Gas filed a new rate schedule with the FPC which purported to increase the rate for the natural gas for resale to the Ideal Cement plant to 14.5 cents per MCF, which was a rate closer to that paid by other gas customers. Mobile Gas objected, stating that under the NGA United Gas could not unilaterally change the contract rate. The FPC ruled that the new rate, being a non-suspendable industrial rate under the NGA, would automatically become effective thirty days after it was filed unless it found the rate to be unlawful. Mobile Gas paid the new rate until April 15, 1955, when it assigned its contract with Ideal Cement to United Gas with the approval of the FPC. Since the only remaining issue was the alleged excess payment resulting from the difference between 10.7 and 14.5 cents per MCF that Mobil Gas had paid to United Gas while responsible for the contract, the FPC ended its investigation regarding the validity of the new rate as it believed that its ruling would not have a retroactive effect. Mobile Gas appealed the administrative decision of the FPC to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which reversed the decision and directed the FPC to reject the new tariffed rate in question and to order United Gas to refund the excess payments received under the new rate. The FPC and United Gas appealed the circuit court order to the Supreme Court, which granted certiorari. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Mobile Gas Service Corp.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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