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.
Kenney (also Kinney) is an unincorporated community in northern Austin County, Texas, United States. It lies along State Highway 36 north of the city of Bellville, the county seat of Austin County. Its elevation is 390 feet (119 m). Although Kenney is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 77452. The area around Kenney was first settled in the 1820s, but the community itself was not started until 1880, when a station on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway and a post office were established. The community was originally named Thompson for its first postmaster. After four years under that name, the community was renamed Kenneyville in 1884 in honor of evangelist John Wesley Kenney; the name was shortened to Kenney in 1892.