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.
Nubieber (formerly, Big Valley City and New Town) is an unincorporated community in Lassen County, California. It was located at the common terminus of the Western Pacific Railroad and the Great Northern Railway Bieber Line 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Bieber, at an elevation of 4121 feet (1256 m). The settlement was established in 1931, when the railroads were built to the place. The first post office opened the same year. The name was a version of "New Bieber".