1. Section 18. All final decisions, findings, rules and orders on any administrative officer or body existing under the constitution or by law, which are judicial or quasi-judicial and affect private rights, shall be subject to direct review by the courts as provided by law; and such review shall include the determination whether the same are authorized by law, and in cases in which a hearing is required by law, whether the same are supported by competent and substantial evidence upon the whole record. Article V, Section 18, Missouri Constitution

2. 386.510. Within thirty days after the application for a rehearing is denied, or, if the application is granted, then within thirty days after the rendition of the decision on rehearing, the applicant may apply to the circuit court... for the purpose of having the reasonableness or lawfulness of the original order or decision or the order or decision on rehearing inquired into or determined.

3. The commission has not given us the requisite specific findings of fact in this case. This leaves us with no basis for determining whether the commission's decision was supported by substantial and competent evidence. We, therefore, remand the case to the commission with instructions that it enter findings of fact and conclusions of law which comply with its obligations under §§ 386.420 and 536.090. State ex rel. Noranda Aluminum, Inc. v. Public Service Commission, 24 S.W.3d 243, 247 (Mo. App. W.D. 2000)

4. [T]he Public Service Commission is an administrative body created by statute and has only such powers as are expressly conferred by statute and reasonably incidental hereto.... However, the courts in this state have held officials occupying quasi-judicial positions to the same high standard as apply to judicial officers.... Union Electric Company v. Public Service Commission, 591 S.W.2d 134, 137 (Mo. App., W.D. 1979)

5. But however difficult may be the ascertainment of relevant and material factors in the establishment of just and reasonable rates, neither impulse nor expediency can be substituted for the requirement that such rates be "authorized by law" and "supported by competent and substantial evidence upon the whole record." State ex rel. Missouri Water Co. v. Public Service Commission, 308 S.W.2d 704, 720 (Mo. 1957)