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.
Garland is a city in Dallas and Collin counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is an inner suburb northeast of Dallas and is a major part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 218,768, making it the tenth-most populous city in Texas and the eighty-sixth most populous city in the United States. Garland is within a short driving distance of most major attractions in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area.