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.
Richmond is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Kentucky, United States. It is named after Richmond, Virginia, and is the home of Eastern Kentucky University. The population of Richmond, Kentucky was 32,895 in 2008 and is expected to be 35,000 by 2010. Richmond is Kentucky's 6th largest city and the second largest city in the Bluegrass region. Richmond serves as a center for work and shopping for south central Kentucky. Richmond is a principal city of the Richmond–Berea Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Madison and Rockcastle counties.