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.
Clear Brook is an unincorporated farming community in northern Frederick County, Virginia. The community lies approximately six miles (9.6 kilometers) north of the county seat of Winchester along Martinsburg Pike. It is the site of the Kenilworth home, once owned by Harry K. Thaw, the old Hopewell Friends Meetinghouse, Stonewall Elementary School, the Clearbrook Park, and the Frederick County Fairgrounds. Sometimes referred to as Clearbrook, its name was decided upon by the Board on Geographic Names in 1966 as Clear Brook.