Depreciation as an Element for Consideration in the Appraisal of Public Service Properties

The object of this paper is to bring nearer to standardization the methods of dealing with depreciation when valuations are made for rate-fixing purposes; to show that the repayment to the owner of invested capital has nothing to do with depreciation; to show that the investment should not be returned to the owner unless he is to be bought out; to show that a public utility taken as a whole may be regarded as having unlimited life; to show that in fixing rates the replacement requirement may with advantage be allowed to take the place of the depreciation allowance; to show that departure of actual from probable life should be taken into account in estimating replacement requirements or depreciation; and to show that the method here called the Unlimited-Life Method of making appraisals is better suited than other methods, to serve as the basis for estimating necessary earnings.