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.
Little River is a census-designated place (CDP) in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,027 at the 2000 census. The river from which it takes its name flows into the Atlantic at the border between South Carolina and North Carolina, the inlet being a breakpoint for tropical cyclone warnings.