The Public Utility Commission, in the interest of public necessity, is hereby empowered to order, in writing, a company engaged in the manufacture, transmission, distribution, or sale of electricity directly to the public or to be used ultimately by the public for lighting, heating, or power, to transport electric energy over its transmission or distribution facilities at a reasonable service charge and in such manner as the Commission shall direct when such transmission will alleviate an electric power shortage within this State. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 39(b), eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 180, § 1; 1967, No. 185, § 1, eff. April 17, 1967.)