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.
Castella is a small, unincorporated town of 240 in the upper Sacramento Canyon of Shasta County, California. It is located 46 miles north of Redding on Interstate 5, and is home to Castle Crags State Park. It has a Chevron gas station/store and a post office. The ZIP Code is 96017. The community is inside area code 530.