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.
Macon is a town located in Warren County, North Carolina. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 115. It is named for Nathaniel Macon, long-time Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Reynolds Price, James B. Duke professor of English at Duke University, and considered one of the South's best contemporary writers, grew up in Macon.