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.
Gainesville is a city in Hall County in Georgia, United States of America. The population was 25,578 at the 2000 census. Census estimates for 2007 show a population of 34,818. The city is the county seat of Hall County. Because of its large number of poultry processing plants, it is often called the chicken capital of the world. Gainesville is also known for their chicken processing facilities, such as King's Delight and Mar-Jac Gainesville is the principal city of and is included in the Gainesville, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, Georgia-Alabama (part) Combined Statistical Area.