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.
Pebble Beach is an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California. It lies at an elevation of 3 feet (1 m). Pebble Beach is a small coastal resort destination, home to the famous golf course, Pebble Beach Golf Links. Technically, Pebble Beach is not a city at all, but rather a corporation owned by the Pebble Beach Company, a subsidiary of Plaut Inc. Residents therefore pay homeowners' fees for road maintenance as well as Monterey County property taxes. The community's post office is named Pebble Beach, but the U.S. Census Bureau aggregates census returns from Pebble Beach as part of the larger census-designated place of Del Monte Forest. The area is also partly administered by the Del Monte Forest Foundation, a non-profit organization designated by Monterey County and the California Coastal Commission, and comprising a volunteer board of 12 members working to preserve the open space within the Del Monte Forest. Except for two representatives of the Pebble Beach Company, all must be property owners and residents of the Forest. The ZIP Code is 93953, and the community is inside area code 831.