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.
Rio Grande is a village in Gallia County, Ohio, United States. The population was 915 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Point Pleasant, WV–OH Micropolitan Statistical Area. Although the town is named after the river in the southern United States, its name is pronounced "Rye-O Grand" rather than the traditional Spanish pronunciation so that it rhymes with "Ohio. " Rio Grande is home to the University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College, the alma mater of Bevo Francis, who set and still holds the NCAA basketball single-game scoring record. It is also the original location of Bob Evans Restaurants. The restaurant chain began as a single truck stop diner in Rio Grande.