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.
Lemont Furnace is an unincorporated community in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States located near the communities of Hopwood and Uniontown. Despite being closer to Morgantown, West Virginia and due to its distant location within Fayette County, the community is a part of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan area.