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.
Concord (formerly, Drunken Indian and Todos Santos) is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, USA, and the 202nd largest in the U.S. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 121,780. Originally founded in 1869 as the community of Todos Santos by Salvio Pacheco, the name was changed to Concord within months. The city is a major regional suburban East Bay center within the San Jose/San Francisco Metropolitan Area, and is located just 31 miles (50 km) east of San Francisco.