Public utilities provide electric, gas, water or telephone service to customers in a specified area. Utilities have a duty to provide safe and adequate service on reasonable terms to anyone who lives within the service area on without discriminating between customers. Because most utilities operate in near monopolistic conditions, they can be heavily regulated by local, state, and federal authorities. Generally, the local and state agencies are called Public Service Commissions (PSC) or Public Utility Commissions (PUC). Municipal Utilities and Rural Electric Cooperatives may be unregulated though.
Hackleburg is a town in Marion County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 1,527. It is also the hometown of country music singer Sonny James. James had numerous country and cross over pop hits starting in the 1950s though the 1970s. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006.