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.
La Follette is a city in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 7,926 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the La Follette, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Campbell County, and is a component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area. The city is named after its founders. Located in eastern Tennessee, it is north of Knoxville, on edge of the Cumberland Plateau west of Cumberland Gap, near Norris Lake (a part of the Norris Highlands region). La Follette is a former coal mining center. It is also the birth place of noted musician Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong. The Isaacs, a southern gospel/bluegrass family singing group are from La Follette.