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.
Fork Union is an unincorporated community in southern Fluvanna County, Virginia, along U.S. Highway 15. Its ZIP code is 23055; the population within that ZIP code was 1148 according to the 2000 Census. It is known mainly as the site of Fork Union Military Academy, Fork Union Animal Clinic and Fork Union Motor Lodge, and also for having one of the few surviving drive-in theatres in Virginia, and the only one in the state east of the Blue Ridge (The Drive-In is actually 3 miles south of Fork Union in an area known as Weber City. ) . Fork Union is also home to a post office, a bank, and a small grocery store.