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.
Mount Hermon is an unincorporated community in northwestern Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is the home of the Yellow Jackets of Mount Hermon High School. The Mile Branch Settlement at the Washington Parish Free Fair is the current home of the old one room school house that was originally built by the pioneers of Mount Hermon, Louisiana. Mount Hermon is part of the Bogalusa Micropolitan Statistical Area.