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.
Fortuna (formerly, Slide, Springville, Fortune) is a city in western-central Humboldt County, California, United States. The population was 10,497 at the 2000 census. The city lies on the northeast shore of the Eel River (approximately 9 miles from where it enters the Pacific Ocean), and is on U.S. Route 101.