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.
Kannapolis is a city in Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, and Rowan counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte. The population was 36,910 at the 2000 census. It is the home of the Kannapolis Intimidators, the Class A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and it is the hometown of the Earnhardt racing family.