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.
Alpine is a small unincorporated community in Overton County, Tennessee, United States. It is served by the ZIP Code of 38543, for which the ZCTA had a population of 497 at the 2000 census. Alpine is part of the Cookeville, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area.