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.
Bethlehem is an unincorporated community in Bethlehem Township, Clark County, Indiana, United States, twenty-five miles up the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. It was platted in 1812 and according to WPA records was presumably named for Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Its first office was established on March 6, 1816. The community's post office is popular around Christmas with those wanting to have a Bethlehem postmark on Christmas letters and cards.