Statutory obligations under the Public Utilities Act cannot be defeated or avoided by a mere mistake in the computation of accounts, and estoppel is not allowed to nullify the statutory provisions.

Lord Maugham:-

This is an appeal by special leave from a judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada dated 28th June 1935, reversing a judgment of the Appeal Division of the Supreme Court of New Nrunswick. That Court had affirmed a judgment in the King's Bench Division whereby the appellants had recovered against the respondents the sum of $19,31.82 and costs. The appellants are a private company which sells electrical power in the City of Fredericton, New Brunswick. The company is however a "public utility" company with the meaning of the Public Utilities Act of New Brunswick (Ch. 127 of the Revised Statutes, 1927). It is accordingly under a statutory duty (S. 10) to furnish reasonably adequate service and facilities. It has annually to make to the Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities established by the Act some elaborate returns. It is strictly limited as to the rates, tolls, and charges which it can make and exact, which must be in exact accordance with filed schedules open to public inspection, and these schedules must remain unchanged until altered, reduced, or modified as provided by the Act (Ss. 14 and 15). S. 16 is in the following terms :

No public utility shall charge, demand, collect or receive a greater or less compensation for any service than is prescribed in such schedules as are at the time established, or demand, collect, or receive any rates, tolls, or charges not specified in such schedules.

By S. 18 it is provided that any public utility company charging or receiving a utility company charging or receiving a greater or less compensation for any service rendered than that prescribed as provided by the Act is guilty of "unjust discrimination", which is thereby prohibited and is made liable to a penalty. By S.19 no person, firm or corporation. On shall knowingly solicit, accept or receive any rebate, concession or discrimination in respect to any service: in, or affecting or relating to, any public utility whereby any such service is by any device whatsoever, or otherwise, rendered free or at a less rate than that named in the schedules in force, as provided herein, or whereby any service or advantage is received other than is herein specified.

A penalty is provided for the violation of this section. The respondents during the material times carried on a dairy business in the City of Fredericton and manufactured and sold butter, ice cream and other milk products. They bought electric energy from the appellants. The amount: of $1,931 claimed by the latter is the amount remaining due for electric energy supplied from the month of December 1929 to the month of March 1932, according to the schedules in force during that period. Only $546.28 instead of $2,478.10 had been paid. The defence of the respondents is simply that of an estoppel raised on agreed facts of a some what singular nature. No viva voce evidence was given at the trial. It is important to keep closely to the principal facts as agreed and their Lordships doubt whether it is legitimate or safe to draw any further inference of fact in the existing circumstances. It will be convenient to state the important facts as agreed in a series of paragraphs:

1. The respondents carried on business in the city in buying cream from farmers and others and using the same in the manufacture of butter, ice cream and other milk products.

2. They paid to the farmers and others from whom the cream was bought a price depending amongst other things on the cost of manufacture of the butter, ice cream and other milk products.

3. The respondents used the electric energy supplied by the appellants for power and other purposes in connexion with their manufacture of butter, ice cream and other milk products, and the cost of such energy entered into the cost of such manufacture and directly affected the price which the respondents paid to the farmers and others for their cream.

4. The appellants at all material times knew that the respondents were using the electric energy in their manu