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.
Trabuco Canyon is a small unincorporated community located in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains in eastern Orange County, California, north of Rancho Santa Margarita. It lies partly within the Cleveland National Forest. Plano Trabuco Road leads from the top of the Canyon, south, to the city of Rancho Santa Margarita. Fourth of July features an old-fashioned parade of locals riding horses and pulling home-made floats to the cheers of observers - who are small in number but large in enthusiasm. A landmark is the Trabuco Oaks Steak House, a favorite restaurant of President Richard Nixon. A monastery of the Vedanta Society is also in the canyon, as well as the Trabuco Canyon Community Church.