Utility commissions’ power to order construction stays unused because responsibility stays private

Evidence

Perhaps the leading example of an individualized requirement in American law is the power given to many public utility commissions to order the construction of new lines or the purchase of new equipment. It will be observed that this reverses the usual relationship between governmental and private ordering, conferring upon a government agency an essentially managerial discretion. This is not an unfamiliar phenomenon in the case of government enterprises, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority. But there the whole responsibility of management is in the government, and the government can be held to full accountability. In the utility case, the responsibility is divided, but remains primarily in private hands. These considerations will help to explain why the authority of the utility commissions to order new construction and equipment has remained largely a paper power. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 797

Categorization

• XREF: Interesting causal link between divided accountability and a paper-only regulatory power. — connects to: Individualized regulation exists when officials must apply rules case by case — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 743