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.
Little Hocking is an unincorporated community in southern Belpre Township, Washington County, Ohio, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 45742. Little Hocking lies along the Ohio River a few miles below the county seat of Marietta. It sits at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with State Route 124 and County Road 26, where the Little Hocking River meets the Ohio River.