The Florida Supreme Court has allowed GTE Florida, Inc. to impose a surcharge to recover payments to affiliates that were erroneously disallowed from rates by the state public service commission (PSC), despite the rule against retroactive ratemaking, and even though GTE had not obtained a stay pending its appeal.
The court described the matter of post-appeal recovery as one of fairness between ratepayers and the utility: "If the customers can benefit in a refund situation, fairness dictates that a surcharge is proper in this situation."
It also questioned PSC moves to disallow payments to affiliates without checking whether bills are excessive: "The mere fact that a utility is doing business with an affiliate does not mean that unfair or excess profits are being generated." GTE Florida, Inc. v. Clark, et al., No. 85,776, Feb. 29, 1996 (Fla.).
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