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.
Stephens City is an incorporated town in southern part of Frederick County, Virginia, United States and is a part of the Winchester, Virginia-West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,146 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 1,446 in 2006. The town was founded by and named for Lewis Stephens in September of 1758. Stephens City is the second oldest in the Shenandoah Valley behind near by Winchester. The town celebrated its bicenquinquagenary, or 250th anniversary, on September 1, 2008. A large section of the center of the town is part of the Newtown-Stephensburg Historic District, a nationally recognized historic district.