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.
Nemo is an unincorporated community in eastern Somervell County, Texas, United States. It is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 199 and 200 and had a population of 56 in 1990. The community is part of the Granbury, Texas Micropolitan Statistical Area. Settlement of the area began in the mid-1800s. Originally called Johnson Station after local settler Jimmie Johnson, residents attempted to receive a post office designation under the same name. The postal authorities, however, suggested a shorter name be used. When the residents met to choose a name, one man argued for the name Nemo, which was Latin for "no one. " He also said that if Johnson's name was not good enough, "then no one's was. " In 1893, a post office branch under the name Nemo was established. Nemo's population has never exceeded 60 persons and the community's few students are served by the Glen Rose Independent School District. In the year 2000, Brazos River Charter School opened in Nemo serving the town and the surrounding communities of Glen Rose, Cleburne, Granbury and Walnut Springs amongst others.