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.
Belva is an unincorporated community in west Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States. The town is situated at the bottomland surrounding the convergence of Bells Creek with Twentymile Creek and, subsequently, Twenty Mile Creek with the Gauley River. Fenwick is also the location of the convergence of two state highways: West Virginia Route 16 and West Virginia Route 39. The community is named in honor of Belva Ann Lockwood, a presidential candidate and early feminist. Belva post office was established in 1885.