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.
Lake Placid is a town in Highlands County, Florida, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the town's population as 1,878 on 1 July 2007. It is part of the Sebring Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 99,349. The town has two nicknames—"Town of Murals" and "The Caladium Capital of the World. " Lake Placid has more than 40 murals painted on buildings throughout the town, and 98 percent of the world's caladium bulbs come from Lake Placid.