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.
Blue (also Whittum) is an unincorporated community in Greenlee County, Arizona, United States. It lies 33°36′36″N 109°6′24″W / 33.61°N 109.10667°W / 33.61; -109.10667 (33.6100552, -109.1067396), at an elevation of 5,758 feet (1,755 m). The community was originally named for Nat Whittum, an original settler who was killed at the site in 1891. A post office was established at Whittum in 1894; however, its name was changed to Blue in 1898, because everyone knew where the Blue River was but Whittum was not known.