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.
Rochester is a city in Butler County, Kentucky, United States, at the confluence of the Green and Mud Rivers. The population was 186 at the 2000 census. It is named for Rochester, New York. This Rochester is the smallest municipality by population in the United States by that name.