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.
Zionville is an unincorporated community in western Watauga County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The community lies along the North Carolina/Tennessee state line between Boone, North Carolina and Mountain City, Tennessee on U.S. Highway 421; part of the community stretches into Johnson County, Tennessee. The community is thought to be the area where Tom Dula was captured and sent back to Wilkesboro for the murder of Laura Foster.