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.
Bluffton is an unincorporated community in Llano County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had an estimated population of 75 in 2000. Bluffton is located along FM 2241 near the western shore of Lake Buchanan, approximately twelve miles northeast of Llano. Although it is unincorporated, Bluffton has a post office, with the ZIP code of 78607. Public education in the community of Bluffton is provided by the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District.