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.
Spottsville, Kentucky is a tiny town in Henderson County, in Western Kentucky, with a population of about 2,400 people. US Highway 60 cuts through Spottsville. The Green River runs through Spottsville, and the Green River Lock & Dam is located in the city. If you travel east through Spottsville, you can see the Lock to your right when you cross the Green River bridge. You can still see some of the remains of the old locks that were replaced in the mid 1960's; to your left, you can see a turning bridge for trains (it turns when a barge comes through). There are two Protestant Churches and one elementary school, which serves all of the Eastern part of Henderson County. The original Spottsville school, which served all grades, provided Henderson County's first school bus service in 1920. This original Spottsville school burned down in March 1932. Spottsville was named for Major Samuel Spotts, who shot the first gun at the Battle of New Orleans. The area was visited by the Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto in 1541. His army was attacked near the Ohio River by Indians of a tribe or tribes called variously the Kashinampo, the Quizqui, and the Chiska. From 1904 to 1911 as many as 116 men of the Green River Coal Company mined coal in Spottsville. Then the Pittsburg Coal Company operated a 75-man coal camp in Spottsville from 1911 to 1924.