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.
Warren is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Trumbull County. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio, approximately 14 miles (22 km) northwest of Youngstown and 15 miles (24 km) west of the Pennsylvania state line. The population was 46,832 at the 2000 census, but in 2005, the population was down to 45,796. It is part of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.