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.
Merit is an unincorporated community in Hunt County, Texas, United States. It is located fifteen miles northwest of Greenville. Although it is unincorporated, Merit has a post office, with the ZIP code of 75458. The Bland Independent School District serves area students. Prominent Houston attorney Joe Rollins (1918-2008) was born in Merit.