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.
Colbert (pronounced Cole-bert) is an unincorporated community in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The town is on U.S. Route 2. The ZIP Code is 99005 and centered at 47°49′52″N 117°21′07″W / 47.8310°N 117.352°W / 47.8310; -117.352. Colbert has one store. Children who live in Colbert attend either Colbert Elementary School or Midway Elementary School, both of which, along with Shiloh Hills Elemntary, feed into the newly formed Mountainside Middle School (previously Mead Middle School), which feeds into Mt. Spokane High School. Additionally, the K-12 private school Northwest Christian is located in Colbert. Northwest Christian was founded in 1949, and their men's basketball team has won the 2B High School tournament the past four years.