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.
Haleyville is a city in Marion and Winston Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. Haleyville was originally named Davis Cross Roads, as it was established at the crossroads of Byler Road and the Illinois Central Railroad. At the 2000 census the population was 4,182. On February 16, 1968 the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system in the nation went into service in Haleyville. The sheriff is Kyle Bridges.