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.
Yucaipa (pronounced Yoo-KI-pah) is a city located 10 miles east of San Bernardino, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. According to San Bernardino County the population as of 2007 was 51,046 and with a Projected Population in 2012 of 58,187. This is a significant level of growth since the 2000 census when the city had a population of 41,207. The city's Web site indicates that Yucaipa has grown over 27 percent since the census of 2000.