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.
Otis Orchards-East Farms is a census-designated place (CDP) in Spokane County, Washington, United States, near the county's border with Idaho. The population was 6,318 at the 2000 census. The CDP includes the rural communities of Otis Orchards and East Farms. Otis Orchards-East Farms is north of the Spokane River from Liberty Lake, Washington and west of Rathdrum, Idaho and Stateline, Idaho. Part of Otis Orchards was recently incorporated into the new city of Spokane Valley. Otis Orchards is in the eastern part of the Spokane River valley, and is in the Spokane, Washington metro area.