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.
Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, and is its county seat. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,748, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs. Census estimates of 2007 indicate a population of 67,021. Marietta is the third-largest of three principal cities (by population) of and is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia metropolitan statistical area, which is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, Georgia-Alabama (part) combined statistical area. In 2009, the mayor of Marietta was William B. (Bill) Dunaway, in his second and last four-year term as mayor.