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<br />402 So. 2d 1209, •; 1981 Fla. App. LEXIS 20623, *•
<br />ROSALIND HOLDING COMPANY, ete., Appellant, v. THE ORLANDO UTILI-
<br />TIES COMMISSION, et aL, Appellee
<br />Nos. 79-1298/1'4.596; 80-9
<br />Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District
<br />402 So2d 1209; 1981 Fla. App. LTM' 20623
<br />SUBSEQUENT HISTORY:
<br />Denied September 11, 1981.
<br />July 22, 1981
<br />[**1] Rehearing
<br />PRIOR HISTORY: Appeal from the Circuit Court
<br />for Orange County, William C. Gridley, Judge.
<br />COUNSEL: Stephen P. Kanar, Winter Park and Charles
<br />Evans Davis of Fishback, Davis, Dominick & Bennett,
<br />Orlando, for appellant.
<br />J. Thomas Gurney, Leon Handley and Thomas B. Tart of
<br />Gurney, Gurney & Handley, P.A., Orlando, for appellee,
<br />Orlando Utilities Commission.
<br />Richard W. Bates and Gray, Adams, Harris & Robinson,
<br />Orlando, for appellee, Orange County.
<br />Robert L. Hamilton, Orlando, for appellee, The City of
<br />Orlando.
<br />JUDGES: Before SHARP, W., J. ORFINGER, J., and
<br />WALKER, GRISSIM H., Associate Judge, concur.
<br />OPINION BY: SHARP
<br />OPINION
<br />[*1210) Rosalind Holding Company appeals from
<br />a final judgment denying it any relief in its class action
<br />suit ' against the Orlando Utilities Commission and the
<br />City of Orlando. The lower court held that Rosalind
<br />failed to prove the utility rates charged by the OUC for
<br />the years 1970 through 1978 were unreasonable and con-
<br />fiscatory. The count assessed Rosalind with taxable costs
<br />of S 8,624.67, which Rosalind also appeals. After an
<br />extensive review of the record in this case, we affirm the
<br />lower court on both grounds.
<br />1. In the Orlando Utilities Commission v.
<br />Rosalind Holding, 330 So.2d 56 (Fla. 4th DCA
<br />1976), the Fourth District Court ruled that the
<br />complaint alleging that the Orlando Utilities
<br />Commission had charged its customers unrea-
<br />Page l
<br />sonable rates, filed by Rosalind as a member of
<br />the class, stated a cause of action. Rosalind is a
<br />"resident" of the City of Orlando and an OUC
<br />customer. The OUC has approximately 80,000
<br />consumers of its utilities services. The standing
<br />of Rosalind to bring this suit, and the propriety of
<br />the suit as a class action, were determined in the
<br />prior appeal and are therefore the "law of the
<br />case."
<br />[*52] The OUC was created in 1923 by a special
<br />act of the legislature, Chapter 9861, Laws of Florida
<br />(1923), as a part of the City of Orlando. Its purpose is to
<br />operate and manage the City's electrical and water utili-
<br />ties both inside and outside the boundaries of the City. 3
<br />The Commission is empowered to set the utility rates,
<br />and the City is required to pay for any OUC utilities it
<br />uses. During the period 1970 through June 1974, Florida
<br />excluded municipally owned utilities from regulation by
<br />the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC). ' Effec-
<br />tive July 1, 1974, section 366.04(2), Florida Statutes,
<br />was added to give the PSC power over municipal electric
<br />utilities... "(b) (t)o prescribe a rate structure for all elec-
<br />tric utilities ... and (1) (t)o prescribe and require the filing
<br />of periodic reports and other data as may be reasonably
<br />available and as necessary to exercise its jurisdiction."
<br />Since 1978 the OUC has filed its reports with the PSC,
<br />but as yet no regulations concerning rate structure have
<br />been promulgated by the PSC.
<br />2. Ch. 10968, laws of Fla (1925).
<br />3. Echis v. Sebring Util Comm'n, 237 So.2d
<br />585 (Fla. 2d DCA), cert denied 240 So.2d 643
<br />(Fla 1970); §§ 366.02,366.11, 367.022, F1aStat
<br />(1979).
<br />[**3] In contrast to a public service commission,
<br />which is designed to regulate and set reasonable rates for
<br />utilities and require certain methods of calculating rea-
<br />sonable rates, the courts have a much more limited func-
<br />tion. Setting rates and methods to calculate them is a
<br />legislative function, whether it is done by a public ser-
<br />vice [*1211] commission or the OUC board. 4 A per-
<br />son seeking to attack in the courts the rates charged by a
<br />Sq
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