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.
Orlean is a small unincorporated village in Fauquier County, Virginia, located approximately 50 miles (80 km) west of Washington, DC. Orlean is situated at the intersection of Leeds Manor Road (County Route 688) and John Barton Payne Road (County Route 732). The Orlean Post Office is purported to be the smallest post office in the United States and has the ZIP Code of 20128.