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.
Hurricane is a city in Washington County, Utah. Its population was 8,250 at the 2000 U.S. Census. Along with several other areas of southwestern Utah, the Hurricane area has seen a large population growth since the 1970s, and it has blended in with neighboring city of St. George, Utah. Hurricane received its name after a whirlwind blew the top off of a buggy that Erastus Snow was riding in. Snow exclaimed, "Well, that was a Hurricane. We'll name this 'Hurricane Hill'. " Hurricane was first settled in 1896.