Whenever the commission shall find, after a hearing had upon its own motion, or upon complaint, that the rates or charges demanded, exacted, charged or collected by any gas company, electrical company, wastewater company, water company, or thermal energy company, for gas, electricity, wastewater company services, water, or thermal energy, or in connection therewith, or that the rules, regulations, practices or contracts affecting such rates or charges are unjust, unreasonable, unjustly discriminatory or unduly preferential, or in any wise in violation of the provisions of the law, or that such rates or charges are insufficient to yield a reasonable compensation for the service rendered, the commission shall determine the just, reasonable, or sufficient rates, charges, regulations, practices or contracts to be thereafter observed and in force, and shall fix the same by order.
RCW 80.28.020
Commission to fix just, reasonable, and compensatory rates.
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case 79 Wash. 2d 302 - Cole v. Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission (1971)
Most recently applied in 122 Wash. App. 194 - Willman v. Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission (July 2004)
2025 c 263 s 5; 2011 c 214 s 12; 1961 c 14 s 80.28.020
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.