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.
Zamora (formerly, Black's, Blacks, Black's Station, Blacks Station, and Prairie) is an unincorporated community in rural Yolo County, California, U.S. , on Interstate 5 due west of Knights Landing. Its ZIP code is 95698 and its area code 530. It is in the northern part of the county. Children attend schools to the south in Woodland, California; older children attend Woodland High School. There is a 4-H Club. Yolo County officials estimated its 2005 population at 61 and predicted it would have a population of 99 by 2025. Zamora is served by its own post office, and a volunteer fire department. There is one Catholic church. It lies at an elevation of 52 feet. In 2006, the Yolo County Health Department reported a mosquito was found infected with West Nile Virus at a Zamora testing site.