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.
Fleming is a small unincorporated community in rural eastern Barlow Township, Washington County, Ohio, United States. Located along State Route 550 between Barlow and Marietta, it is surrounded by farmland dotted with occasional trees. It lies near, but not in, the Wayne National Forest. The headwaters of Wolf Creek, a stream that meets the Muskingum River at Waterford to the north, flow near Fleming.