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.
Indianola is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, United States, located on the north shore of Port Madison on the Port Madison Indian Reservation, home of the Suquamish Indian Tribe. The population was 3,026 at the 2000 census. It was originally established as a summer community and was a stop for Mosquito Fleet ferries until the 1950s.