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.
Payette is a city in and the county seat of Payette County, Idaho, United States. The population was 7,054 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ontario, OR–ID Micropolitan Statistical Area. Originally named Boomerang signifying a roundhouse on the railroad, the Oregon Shortline. The city changed its name for François Payette, a French-Canadian fur trapper and later the head the Fort Boise trading post for the British Hudson's Bay Company from 1835-44. A large merry man, he was highly regarded for his helpful assistance to the many travelers who came through the fort. After his retirement in 1844, Mr. Payette returned to Montreal, but the rest of his life is a mystery.