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.
Snoqualmie Pass is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 201 at the 2000 census. The CDP is named for the mountain pass that carries Interstate 90 across the Cascade Range, which itself is named for the Snoqualmie tribe, a Native American tribe indigenous to the Snoqualmie Valley located west of the pass. Based on per capita income, Snoqualmie Pass ranks 6th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked. It is also the highest rank achieved in Kittitas County.