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.
Ratcliff is an unincorporated community in Houston County in east Texas, United States. Founded in the early 1900s, Ratliff had a population of more than five thousand, with most working at a sawmill operated by the Louisiana and Texas Lumber Company. This Four C Mill used the 45-acre (180,000 m) lake that is the heart of Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area as its millpond. The recreation area is located within the Davy Crockett National Forest. Ratcliff is named for an early settler, J.H. Ratcliff, who operated a smaller sawmill, which cut the timber for the larger Four C Mill.