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.
Xenia (pronounced Zeen-yuh) is a city in and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio 21 miles from Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The name comes from the Greek word Xenia (ξενία), which means "hospitality". Many of its residents supported the Underground Railroad in the years before the Civil War. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 24,164. Xenia is the 3rd largest city in Greene County, behind Fairborn and Beavercreek.