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.
Fort Dick (formerly, Newburg) is a small community in rural Del Norte County, California. Fort Dick is about 5 miles north of Crescent City, California and about 15 miles south of the California–Oregon state line. It is located on the U.S. Route 101 corridor on the Redwood Coast. The ZIP Code is 95538. While there are other recognized small towns in the area, Crescent City, California is the only incorporated city in all of Del Norte County. Crescent City became incorporated in 1854. "Fort Dick is a community or populated place (Class Code U6) in Del Norte County at latitude 41.868 and longitude -124.149. The elevation is 52 feet. Fort Dick appears on the Crescent City U.S. Geological Survey Map. Del Norte County is in the Pacific time zone (GMT -8). " A post office was set up at Fort Dick in 1917.