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.
Littlefield is a city in and the county seat of Lamb County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,507 at the 2000 census. It is located in a significant cotton growing region, northwest of Lubbock on the Llano Estacado just south of the beginning of the Texas Panhandle. Littlefield has a large denim manufacturing plant operated by American Cotton Growers. Littlefield is named for George W. Littlefield (1842–1920), a Mississippi native, Confederate States of America officer, rancher, banker, and benefactor of the University of Texas at Austin. Littlefield houses the Bill Clayton Detention Center, a 310-bed medium-security facility, which is named for the former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, who resided in Springlake. Near Littlefield is the Triple Arrow Ranch, known for its historical remnants, owned by Lamb County Commissioner's Court Judge and Mrs. William A. Thompson, Jr.