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.
Livingston is a town in Polk County, Texas, United States. The population was 50,433 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Polk County. Livingston was settled in 1835 as Springfield. Its name was changed to Livingston and became the county seat of Polk County in 1846. There are 6,612 people (according to the 2000 Census) in West Livingston, Texas. West Livingston is an area west of Livingston and east of Lake Livingston. The Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which houses the male death row, is located five miles southwest of Livingston. The Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation is just to the East of Livingston. The 2000 census reported a resident population of 480 persons within the reservation. Livingston has one hospital, the Memorial Medical Center at Livingston