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.
Blowing Rock is a town in North Carolina, situated in both Caldwell and Watauga counties. The population was 1,418 at the 2000 census. However, during the summer the town's population increases to about 10,000. These "summertime residents" consist mainly of people from the State of Florida who come to Blowing Rock to escape the heat and humidity of the Deep South. The Caldwell County portion of Blowing Rock is part of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Watauga County portion is part of the Boone Micropolitan Statistical Area.