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.
Seattle Hill-Silver Firs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 35,311 at the 2000 census. It lies northeast of the city of Mill Creek and southeast of the city of Everett. Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Seattle Hill-Silver Firs ranks 69th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked.