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.
Leopold is a small unincorporated community in Perry County in the U.S. state of Indiana. Located fifteen miles north of the Ohio River, this little village was founded in 1842 by the Reverend Augustine Bessonies and named for the then reigning king of Belgium, Léopold I. Most of the original settlers of Leopold were Belgian immigrants. With a population of less than 100, Leopold is the site of a Roman Catholic church, St. Augustine, a general store, Guillaume's Store, a restaurant, Marcy's, and a quiet atmosphere reminiscent of another time. On the last Sunday in July, Leopold holds its annual St. Augustine's picnic, which serves both as a fund raiser for the local parish and as a homecoming for former residents.