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.
Hulbert is a town in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 543 at the 2000 census. Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek Monastery is a Benedictine Monastery located in Hulbert. The Clear Creek Monastery, recently elevated to the status of an Abbey, is a foundation Abbey of France's Notre Dame de Fontgombault, which is itself a foundation Abbey of Saint Pierre de Solesmes, also in France.