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.
Erath is a town in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,187 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Abbeville Micropolitan Statistical Area. Erath is home of the Acadian Museum. Allen Bares, who served in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature from 1972 to 1992, was born in Vermilion Parish and graduated from Erath High School in 1954.