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.
Cut Off (historically named La Coupe) is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Bayou Lafourche in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,635 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area. Cut Off's ZIP code is 70345, the Area Code is 985 and local telephone prefixes are 325, 632, 693.