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.
Hawi is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hawai‘i County, Hawai‘i, United States. The population was 938 at the 2000 census. Hawi is situated to the west of the community of Kapaau. Together they comprise the most densely populated region in the district of North Kohala. Historically this part of Kohala is significant as the birthplace of Kamehameha I and the location of the Moʻokini heiau in the Kohala Historical Sites State Monument. The two communities were once busy commercial centers during the operation of the Kohala Sugar plantation.