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.
Oxbow is an unincorporated community located in Baker County, Oregon, United States. By some accounts, Hells Canyon is defined as starting just outside of Oxbow. Oxbow was once the location of the former mining town of Copperfield. Oxbow is situated on Oregon Route 86, along the Snake River, at the site of the Oxbow Dam, along the border between Oregon and Idaho. Oxbow is approximately 17 miles northeast of the nearest incorporated town of Halfway, Oregon, and 142 miles north and slightly west of Boise, Idaho.