Public Service Commission - § 37-1-31, Ala. Code 1975 - Exclusive Adjudicatory Jurisdiction
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Cunningham Bounds LLC
City of Wetumpka v. Alabama Power Co., [Ms. 1170992, Nov. 27, 2019] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. 2019). The Court (Parker,
C.J.; and Bolin, Shaw, Wise, and Mendheim, JJ., concur; Sellers, J., concurs
in the result; Stewart and Mitchell, JJ., recused themselves) affirms
the Elmore Circuit Court's dismissal of the City of Wetumpka's
complaint for a declaratory judgment challenging Alabama Power Company's
refusal to relocate overhead electrical facilities located within the
city's downtown area at the power company's expense upon concluding
that the controversy was within the exclusive adjudicatory jurisdiction
of the Alabama Public Service Commission pursuant to §§ 37-1-31
and 37-1-83, Ala. Code 1975. Because the PSC has exclusive jurisdiction
over a municipality's challenge to rules, regulations, or practices
relating to the service or facilities of a utility such as Alabama Power
Company, the Circuit Court of Elmore County was without jurisdiction to
entertain a declaratory judgment action which sought to enforce a municipal
ordinance that would in effect make Alabama Power Company pay the costs
of relocating the overhead electrical facilities when the PSC had previously
amended Alabama Power's rules and regulations for electric services
to prohibit Alabama Power from bearing such utility-relocation costs.
Because the circuit court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction, its dismissal
of the city's action against Alabama Power Company was due to be affirmed.
