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.
Willows (formerly, Willow) is the county seat of Glenn County, California. As the county seat, the town is a home to regional government offices, including the California Highway Patrol, California Department of Motor Vehicles and the United States Bureau of Reclamation. The population was 6,220 at the 2000 census.