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.
Marylhurst, Oregon is an unincorporated community in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. It is located approximately eight miles south of Portland, between Lake Oswego and West Linn on Oregon Route 43 near the Willamette River. Marylhurst is the home of Marylhurst University and its Art Gallery. Some of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary moved to the area in 1908 when they purchased 63 acres (250,000 m) between Lake Oswego and West Linn. The Sisters named the pastoral land Marylhurst, which means "Mary's Woods. " Soon after, they re-named St. Mary's College, which they had moved from Portland, as Marylhurst University.