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.
Americus is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. The population was 17,013 at the 2000 census. Americus is the home of Habitat for Humanity International's international headquarters, the famous Windsor Hotel (from 1892), Fuller Center for Housing international headquarters, The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving, Glover Foods and many more well-known organizations. The city is the county seat of Sumter County. Americus is the principal city of the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Schley and Sumter counties and had a combined population of 36,966 at the 2000 census.