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.
Blue Springs is a village in Union County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 144 at the 2000 census. Located near Tupelo in northeastern Mississippi, the village is the site of Toyota's eighth North American vehicle assembly plant, slated to produce the company's Prius hybrid vehicle beginning in 2010 . Groundbreaking for the facility was held on April 18, 2007.