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.
Barstow is a small, rural unincorporated community in Calvert County, Maryland located immediately west of Prince Frederick. The community maintains its own separate zip code, 20610. The new Calvert County Fairgrounds are located in Barstow, moving from their original location in central Prince Frederick in the late 1990s.