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.
Jena is a town in and the parish seat of La Salle Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,971 at the 2000 census. In September 2006, Jena became the focus of national news stories in the United States for a racial controversy involving its school system and a group of students known as the Jena Six.