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.
Pottsville is an unincorporated community in western Hamilton County in Central Texas. It lies along Fm-218 west of the city of Hamilton, the county seat of Hamilton County. Its elevation is 1,322 feet (403 m). Although Pottsville is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 76565; the ZCTA for ZIP Code 76565 had a population of 142 at the 2000 census. Named for early settler John Potts, the community was founded as a dry town in 1872. Its first school was founded in 1876, and the post office was established in 1879. Pottsville has undergone multiple catastrophes: every business was burned in a 1913 fire, and great damage was done by a 1944 tornado.