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.
Nokomis is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,334 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bradenton–Sarasota–Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area. Nokomis is famous for Casey Key, a barrier island split with the CDP of Osprey created by the intracoastal waterway, where there are beachfront houses worth millions of dollars lining the key.