IX. The Proposed Transactions Will Benefit
the Public
Section 851 provides that no public utility "shall . . . lease . . . [property] necessary or useful in the performance of its duties to the public . . . without first having secured from the commission an order authorizing it so to do." The relevant inquiry for the Commission in Section 851 proceedings is whether the proposed transaction is "adverse to the public interest."5 The proposed lease satisfies this test. The public interest is not harmed since a lease will not affect in any way the utility's operation of the sub-transmission lines or the adjoining substation.6 To the contrary, the Commission has determined that the public interest is served when utility property is used for other productive purposes without interfering with the utility's operation or affecting service to utility customers. Because the proposed lease will provide increased revenues for the benefit of ratepayers with minimal risk to the ratepayers, SCE requests the Commission to authorize the lease.
5 See, e.g., Universal Marine Corporation, D.84-04-102, 1984 Cal. PUC LEXIX 962, *3, 14 CPUC2d 644 ("[W]e have long held that the relevant inquiry in an application for transfer is whether the transfer will be adverse to the public interest"); see also D.89-07-016, 1989 Cal. PUC LEXIS 582, *25, 32 CPUC2d 233. 6 As noted earlier, if the leased property becomes necessary for utility operations, SCE has reserved the right to exercise its power of condemnation to re-acquire any or all of the leasehold.
