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.
Smiths Station is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is a part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is also known by locals as Smiths, although the official name is Smiths Station. According to the local legend, a postmaster around 1960 grew tired of writing Smiths Station, so he took it upon himself to drop "Station" from the name of the community. Smiths Station was officially incorporated in June 2001, and is as of 2004 Alabama's second newest city next to Center Point. At the time of the 2000 census, it was still a census-designated place (CDP), and its population was 21,756. Smiths Station is a bedroom community of Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama. Smiths Station High School has an enrollment of 2,500+ students and is the 10th largest high school in the state.