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.
Pinewood is a town located on South Carolina Highway 261 at the southern entrance to the High Hills of Santee in Sumter County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 459 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Sumter, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area.