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.
West Richland is a 22-square-mile (57 km) city in Benton County, Washington, United States, served by three elementary schools (Tapteal, William Wiley and White Bluffs) and a middle school (Enterprise), with an annual budget of about 30 million dollars. The population was 8,385 at the 2000 census. The city is generally included in the Tri-Cities (for purposes of counting population, etc. ), even though that technically makes four cities.