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.
West Monroe is a city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 13,250 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area. West Monroe is situated on the Ouachita River, just across from the neighboring city of Monroe (pop. 53,107). The two cities are often referred to as the Twin Cities of northeast Louisiana. It was originally named Trenton. Recently there has been an aborning interest in renaming the city Trenton.