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.
Lafayette is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States on the Yamhill River and Oregon Route 99W. The population was 2,586 at the 2000 census. The 2006 population estimate is 3,440 residents. Incorporated in 1878, Lafayette is 32 miles southwest of Portland between McMinnville and Dundee.