HARRISBURG - Utilities that use the City of Lancaster’s rights-of-way will not have to pay an annual occupancy fee after a new ruling.
Justice David N. Wecht authored the opinion for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Aug. 20. Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor and justices Debra Todd, Max Baer, Christine Donohue, Kevin M. Dougherty, and Sallie Updyke Mundy concurred.
The City of Lancaster passed an ordinance that aimed to “superimpose municipal requirements upon state-regulated utilities that use the city’s rights-of-way to deliver services," according to the opinion.
PPL Electric Utilities Corp. said the ordinance violated the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Code. The Commonwealth Court supported PPL's argument, finding state code superceded the city's law, except for a policy that would allow the city to enforce a yearly occupancy fee for utilities that use its municipal rights-of-way.
The Supreme Court backed the Commonwealth Court, except for the occupancy fee, which the Supreme Court also struck down.
"We hold that all of the provisions challenged by PPL, including the annual occupancy fee, are preempted by the code,” the court said in its ruling.
"Arguably, we need look no farther than our decision in Philadelphia Electric, in which we upheld a utility’s challenge to a county ordinance prohibiting a person or corporation from constructing a pipeline in the county without first submitting the county plans and specifications for the pipeline,” the court said.
The Supreme Court said utility regulation has been, legally, a state-level prerogative. “To embark now upon a divergent approach would be to depart from the sound reasoning of long-standing case law,” it said in the ruling.
It said that allowing the city to have authority for inspections and other related conduct could result in “overly aggressive” or even “harassing” behavior.