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.
Ward Cove (also Wacker, Wacker City, or Wards Cove) is an unincorporated community in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States. Its elevation is 164 feet (50 m), and it is located at 55°24′43″N 131°43′22″W / 55.41194°N 131.72278°W / 55.41194; -131.72278 (55.4119444, -131.7227778). Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 99928. This village is an extension of the settlement area of Ketchikan northwest along the highway. A saltery was established in Ward Cove in 1883-84 by W. W. Waud. Eugene Wacker was first postmaster of the Wacker post office, which was established 1920. The post office name was changed to Wards Cove in 1951 and then to Ward Cove in 1954. The village population was 57 at the 1930 census. The name "Ward Cove" was declared official in 1966 by the Board on Geographic Names. The settlement lies on the northern shore of Ward Cove, at the southwestern end of Revillagigedo Island, 4½ mi (northwest of Ketchikan, Alex. Arch.