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.
Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 18,397 at the 2000 census, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (Port of Our Lady of the Angels) by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-1800s the name had been shortened and partially anglicized to its current form. Port Angeles is home to Peninsula College and is the birthplace of football hall of famer John Elway. The city is served by William R. Fairchild International Airport, and ferry service is provided across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on the M/V Coho or Victoria Express.