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.
Rockdale is a city in Milam County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,440 at the 2000 census. Rockdale is the site of a large Alcoa smelting operation, which can produce 1.67 million pounds of aluminum per day. The ALCOA plant was closed in late 2008 - early 2009. Author George Sessions Perry was born in Rockdale on May 5, 1910, and lived much of his life there.