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.
Mechanicsburg is a village in Champaign County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,744 at the 2000 census. Mechanicsburg laid out in 1814 on the site of the Shawnee Indian Village of Chief Ohito. Mechanicsburg was also a station on the underground railroad with “conductor” Udney Hyde helping more than 500 slaves on their way to freedom.