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.
Yorkville is a village in Belmont and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 1,230 at the 2000 census. Yorkville lies within two Metropolitan Statistical Areas – the Belmont County portion is part of the Wheeling metropolitan area, while the Jefferson County portion of the village is part of the Weirton-Steubenville metropolitan area.