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.
Stuart is a town in Patrick County, Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 961 at the 2000 census. Due to recent boundary expansion, the town of Stuart has an estimated population of nearly two thousand residents. The town of Stuart was named after Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, of nearby Ararat, Virginia.