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.
Gore is a town in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 850 at the 2000 census. The town was originally known as "Campbell," but later changed its name on October 22, 1909 in honor of Oklahoma Senator Thomas Gore, a distant relative of Albert Gore, Sr. , the Tennessee Senator and father of U.S. Vice President Al Gore, but this has never been proven. Gore is the birthplace of 1969 Heisman Trophy Winner, Steve Owens, who was raised in Miami, Oklahoma. There is a sports complex in Gore named after him. Gore is the trout capital of Oklahoma, with great fishing in Lake Tenkiller, the Illinois River, and the Arkansas River.