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.
Atlanta is a village in Winn Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 150 at the 2000 census. The late State Representative Ashton B. Collier, who served from 1956-1960 and again from 1964-1970, resided in Atlanta. He was succeeded and preceded in the House by Winnfield businessman P.K. Smith.