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.
Zuni is an unincorporated community in Isle of Wight County in the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States. Zuni is home to a dentist's office, a Ruritan club, a general store, a gas station, and two churches and is served by its own Post Office. The name is properly pronounced ZOO-nigh. Articles written about Zuni on the internet state that Zuni was also home to hotels, a bank and other businesses in the mid-20th century. Zuni sits on the banks of the Blackwater River, which separates Isle of Wight County with Southampton County. In 1999 Zuni was flooded by Hurricane Floyd and flooded again in 2006, causing the river to overflow and completely cover the bridge crossing the river. When the river overflows it floods many homes in the Zuni area. Zuni is on U.S. Route 460, southeast of Ivor and northeast of Windsor.