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.
Onekama is a village in Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 647 at the 2000 census. The village is located on the shores of Portage Lake and is surrounded by Onekama Township. The town's name is derived from "oneka-ma-engh", a native phrase for "portage". Some local business people have produced sweatshirts, t-shirts, and bumper stickers with the symbols "1," (pronounced 'ONE comma'), a common mispronunciation.