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.
Salem is a city in Livingston County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 769 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Paducah, KY-IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Salem is the largest city in Livingston County, although it is neither the county seat (a distinction held by Smithland) nor the largest community (the census-designated place of Ledbetter has more than double Salem's population).