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.
Linwood is a small unincorporated community just south of Lexington in Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. The area contains operations of several important companies in Davidson County, including Keply Hardwood, Legget-Platt, PPG Industries, and Kimberly Clark. Three major transportation systems serve the area: US Interstate 85, the Davidson County Airport, and Norfolk Southern Railway's Spencer classification yard. Linwood was named for the nearby plantation of William Rainey Holt (1798-1868), a physician and early innovator in farming techniques. Three sites in the National Register of Historic Places are located in the area: the Beallmont Building, the Jersey Baptist Church Cemetery, and the Jersey Settlement Meeting House. Part of the community (mainly the area industries) has been annexed by the city of Lexington. Public High Schools that have districts that are in Linwood are Central Davidson High School and West Davidson High School.