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.
Pelham is a city and suburb of Birmingham in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 14,369, but has grown to 20,120 according to the latest Census estimate in 2006. It was named for famed American Civil War officer John Pelham. An F2 tornado damaged business buildings here along with Indian Springs, Helena, and Inverness on Palm Sunday March 27, 1994.