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.
Delcambre is a town in Iberia and Vermilion parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located twelve miles (20 km) east of Abbeville on Louisiana Highway 14 in the Cajun Heartland of Acadiana. The population was 2,168 at the 2000 census. The Iberia Parish portion of Delcambre is part of the New Iberia Micropolitan Statistical Area, while the Vermilion Parish portion is part of the Abbeville Micropolitan Statistical Area.