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.
Des Allemands is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lafourche and St. Charles parishes in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 2,500 at the 2000 census. The town, known as the "Catfish Capital of the Universe," is along the Bayou Des Allemands, which is the boundary of Lafourche and St. Charles parishes. The ZIP code for Des Allemands is 70030. The St. Charles Parish portion of Des Allemands is part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Lafourche Parish portion is part of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area.