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.
Westport (formerly, Beal's Landing) is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located on the Pacific Ocean 13 miles (21 km) north of Fort Bragg, at an elevation of 125 feet (38 m). The first post office at Westport opened in 1879. Originally called Beal's Landing in honor of Samuel Beal, first white settler, the place was renamed in 1877 by James T. Rodgers who built a timber loading facility for the name to contrast with his home town of Eastport, Maine.