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.
Oak Run is a small unincorporated community 23 miles (37 km) east of Redding in Shasta County, California. The towns of Bella Vista (pop. 1,218), Millville (pop. 611), Shingletown (pop. 2,222), Palo Cedro (pop. 4,000), Whitmore (pop. 593), and Round Mountain (pop. 122) lie within a 15 miles (24 km) radius. It has a store and a post office run by a family who lives in the town-famous "Oak Run House", just behind the store and post office. It also has a school, library, a volunteer fire department and 765 people. The ZIP Code is 96069. The community is inside area code 530.