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.
Sarepta is a town in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area. Sarepta was named for the town's first church's benefactor, Sarepta Carter. Local history tells that Mrs. Carter donated a Bible to the community church on the premise the church be named for her. Years later the church split, causing the original name to be changed to Old Sarepta, and the new church to be designated as New Sarepta.