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.
Humble is a city in Harris County, Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The city got its name from one of the original founders/settlers, a successful wildcatter originally from Louisiana (per census records) named Pleasant Smith "Plez" Humble, who opened the first post office in his home and later served as justice of the peace. The proper pronunciation of the city is "UM-ble" (the "H" being silent), and thus "an" should be used before it: "West Brook got on the board early in the second quarter following an Humble fumble" (Brian McTaggart, "Ambres, West Brook Stun No. 1 Humble," Houston Chronicle, Nov. 16, 1997). As of the 2000 census, the city population was 14,579. The city shares a zip code with the small Houston neighborhood of Bordersville, although people who live in Bordersville still have Humble addresses. Petroleum has been the basis of Humble's economy since its beginning. Loch Energy is headquartered in Humble; the city was the namesake for Humble Oil and Refining Company, which later merged with the Exxon corporation.