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.
North Benton is an unincorporated community in northern Smith Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 44449. It lies along State Route 14 between Salem and Ravenna. The community is part of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.