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.
Somis is an unincorporated area of Ventura County, California, just north of the Camarillo city limits. Its generally recognized boundaries are the areas around the intersection of Somis Road and Los Angeles Avenue, the latter being the dividing line between uptown and downtown. Its official boundaries are any residences in the 93066 ZIP Code. It is in the area code 805. As of 2000, the total population was 2,946. It is primarily an agricultural area, but is home to a fire station, a hardware store, a market known as the Somis Market which is also a Mexican cafe, a post office, an elementary school, several shops including the Somis Nut House, one main residential tract and numerous estates and ranches. It has no formal local government, but it is serviced by the Ventura County Sheriff's Department and the Ventura County Fire Department.