The Piedmont Power & Light Company v. Town of Graham et al., 1919, was a case that revolved around the issue of whether or not a municipality could legally purchase and operate an electric power plant without obtaining legislative approval. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Town of Graham, stating that municipalities have the inherent right to own and operate utilities for public use under their police powers granted by state constitutions. This ruling upheld previous decisions which recognized this inherent right as long as it did not infringe upon private property rights without due process or just compensation. Furthermore, it established that such municipal operations do not constitute unfair competition with private companies because they are undertaken for public benefit rather than commercial profit.

The dissenting opinion in the Piedmont Power & Light Company v. Town of Graham case argued that the majority's decision to uphold a North Carolina law, which allowed municipalities to set rates for public utilities, was flawed. The dissenters believed this ruling violated the Fourteenth Amendment by depriving companies of their property without due process of law. They contended that it is not within a state’s power to fix utility rates so low as to be confiscatory and thus destroy or impair the value of private property devoted to public use. Furthermore, they disagreed with how evidence was evaluated in determining whether these rates were indeed too low; they felt there should have been more consideration given towards ensuring just compensation for utility providers.