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.
Sikes is a village in Winn Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 121 at the 2000 census. Sikes was the birthplace of the Louisiana state trial and appellate court judge Henry L. Yelverton, who was based in Lake Charles. Early in his career, Louisiana State Representative James R. Fannin taught agricultural education at Sikes High School.