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.
Quantico, Virginia is a town in Prince William County, located in Washington Metropolitan Area. It is totally surrounded by Marine Corps Base Quantico on three sides and the Potomac River on the fourth. Quantico is located south of the mouth of Quantico Creek on the Potomac. As of the 2000 census, Quantico had a population of 561. Quantico is the site of one of the largest U.S. Marine Corps bases in the world,. The base is the site of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and HMX-1 (the presidential helicopter squadron). The United States Drug Enforcement Administration's training academy, the FBI Academy, and the FBI Laboratory are on the base. A replica of the USMC War Memorial stands in the entrance to the base. (The original is at the north end of Arlington National Cemetery. ) As of 2008, the mayor is Iris Tharp. There is also a town council.