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.
Hugo is a city in Choctaw County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 5,536 at the 2000 census. It is the birthplace of Bill Moyers, B. J. Thomas, James Ling, and William Childress, serves as winter quarters for some circus performers and the oldest school - Goodland Academy - begun in 1848. It is the county seat of Choctaw County. The town is located in a cultural area of the state known as Little Dixie and the tourist area Kiamichi Country.