PUBLIC UTILITIES - COLLECTIONS - DISCONTINUANCE OF SERVICE

Defendant's rate schedule provided for a minimum charge of $1 per month for each month of the year. Plaintiff was connected to defendant's system in May. The first electric bill included four dollars as the minimum charge for the months from January to May, defendant claiming that the minimum charges ran from the first of the calendar year. Plaintiff paid for the other items but refused payment of the four dollars.

Service was discontinued in July. The lower court decided that it did not have jurisdiction to give either an injunction or damages. Held, where an account is honestly disputed, the utility must not discontinue service. The jurisdiction of the public utilities commission is not exclusive and a new trial will be ordered in the lower court.

Steele v. Clinton Electric & Power Co., (Conn. 1937) 193 A. 613.