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.
La Pine is a city in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, incorporated on December 7, 2006. La Pine is part of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,799 at the 2000 census, at which time it was a census-designated place (CDP). La Pine is in an isolated area of Central Oregon, consisting of a loose collection of homes and businesses along U.S. Highway 97 about 30 miles southeast of Bend. Most of the residential development is concealed from the highway itself. Several peaks of the Cascade Range are prominently visible from the community. La Pine is in the valley of the Little Deschutes River, a tributary of the Deschutes River. The river provides recreational opportunities such as fishing, swimming, canoeing, and other leisure activities.