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.
Desert Hot Springs, also known as DHS, is a city in Coachella Valley, Desert Empire, Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 16,582 at the 2000 census. The city had seen rapid development and high population growth since 1980 when it had 2,500 residents, to become a city with an estimated 25,000 residents in the year 2008.