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.
Great Falls is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 8,549 at the 2000 census. Although primarily a bedroom community for Washington, D.C. , one major attraction is Great Falls Park which overlooks the Great Falls of the Potomac River, for which the community and the park are named. George Washington was involved with building a canal around the falls on the southwest, or Virginia, side, called the Patowmack Canal, which did not become commercially viable. Remnants of the canal and of a village around the canal named Matildaville are still visible in the park. River Bend County Park is another gathering area in Great Falls, as is the Village Green, which hosts community celebrations around Easter (Egg Hunt), Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas (Tree Lighting) and other holidays.