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.
Walhalla is a city in Oconee County, South Carolina, United States. It is located 16 miles (26 km) from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. The population was 3,801 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Oconee County. The current mayor of Walhalla is Randy Chastain. Walhalla began as a settlement of German immigrants who left from Hamburg, Germany and Bavaria with some English, Scots and Irish who came over in the same ship. In particular, General John A. Wagener, Claus Bullwinkel, John C. Henckel, Jacob Schroder, and Christopher F. Seeba (trustees of the German Colonization Society of Charleston) bought 17,859 acres (72.27 km) of land for $27,000 from Reverend Joseph Grisham of West Union on December 24, 1849.