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.
Towaoc is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Ute Mountain Reservation in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,097 at the 2000 census. The Towaoc Post Office has the ZIP Code 81334. Towaoc is the capital of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, replacing a tribal headquarters and BIA sub-agency at Aztec Springs. It is located southwest of Sleeping Ute Mountain, a sacred mountain of the Ute people, northeast of Four Corners Monument.