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.
Virgie is an unincorporated community located along Kentucky Route 1469 in Pike County, Kentucky, United States. Virgie's post office was established as Clintwood on April 3, 1890, with James M. Damron as postmaster. It was later renamed "Virgie" after the daughter of local resident, W.O.B. Ratliff, who was a lawyer and lumber dealer in Pikeville.