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.
Marietta is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Washington County. The municipality is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum River with the Ohio River. The population was 14,515 at the 2000 census. It is the second largest by population of three principal cities of and included in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, West Virginia-Ohio (part) Metropolitan Statistical Area. Founded in 1788, Marietta is the oldest city in Ohio.