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.
Lava Hot Springs is a city in Bannock County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the 'Pocatello, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 521 at the 2000 census. Located in the mountainous valley of the Portneuf River the old route of the Oregon Trail and California Trail, the city has become popular resort location, noted for its numerous hot springs amenable to bathing.