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.
Fort Hall is a census-designated place (CDP) in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho, split between northern Bannock County and southern Bingham County. It is located on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation along the Snake River north of Pocatello, near the site of the original Fort Hall in the Oregon Country. The population was 3,193 at the 2000 census. Tbe Bannock County portion of Fort Hall is part of the 'Pocatello, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area', while the Bingham County portion is part of the 'Blackfoot, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area'.