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.
Umpqua is an unincorporated community in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. The population was 112 at the 2000 census. The word "Umpqua" was first used by the local Native Americans to refer to the locality around the Umpqua River and came to be applied to the river as well.