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.
Bloomington is an unincorporated town at the confluence of the North Branch Potomac River and Savage River in southeastern Garrett County, Maryland. It lies to the west of Luke on MD 135 (state highway 135) and is bounded to the northwest by Savage River State Forest. Originally known as Llangollen when the town's post office was established on December 4, 1872, its name was later changed to Bloomington. Jennings Randolph Lake to the southwest was completed in 1982 as Bloomington Lake but was renamed in 1987 by the United States Congress for West Virginia Senator William Jennings Randolph. A proposal has been filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by Fairlawn Hydroelectric Company to construct a 10.5 MW hydroelectric facility at the Army Corps of Engineers-operated dam for the lake. If approved, construction could occur as early as 2012.