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.
Sand Springs is a city in Osage and Tulsa counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. A suburb of Tulsa, it is located predominantly in Tulsa County. The population was 17,451 at the 2000 census. The city was founded by Oklahoma philanthropist Charles Page. He envisioned Sand Springs as a haven for orphans and widows. He helped found and develop Sand Springs as a model city that included all components of a total community. Today, Sand Springs is ripe with growth and development due to its strategic location near downtown Tulsa and proximity to cultural and recreational opportunities. Numerous private and governmental projects are currently underway to morph Sand Springs from a historically-rich bedroom community into a progressive and complete community.