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.
Goldonna is a village in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 457 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area. South of Goldonna along Louisiana Highway 156, one may access Saline Bayou, popular for blackwater canoeing. The village is the birthplace of the American romance author Patricia Maxwell, also known as Jennifer Blake, who resides in Quitman in Jackson Parish. The mayor of Goldonna is Verna Martin Bedgood, a Democrat. The police chief is Huey Kenneth Martin, an Independent. The three aldermen are Rodney Lynn Bedgood, a Democrat, and Ben and Daniel Dupree, both Republicans.