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.
Union Grove is a small town in Marshall County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. Union Grove is located approximately three miles from Guntersville Lake and six miles from Arab. Electricity service in Union Grove is provided through Arab Electric Cooperative, which comes through the Tennessee Valley Authority. As of the 2000 census, the population of the town is 94.