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.
Bridal Veil is a virtual ghost town located in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. It was established in the 1880s during a logging boom. It was established by a logging company as it harvested timber on nearby Larch Mountain. It was a company mill town, built and centered around a sawmill, and it had a close relationship with the logging town of Palmer for the first 50 years of its history. As of July 2006, all that remained of the town was a post office, a cemetery and a church. It is located in the Columbia River Gorge.