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.
Elizabeth is a town in Wirt County, West Virginia along the Little Kanawha River. The population was 994 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Wirt County. The townsite of Elizabeth was settled by William Beauchamp in 1796, and was known as "Beauchamp's Mills" until 1817, when it was named for Elizabeth Woodyard, the wife of David Beauchamp. Elizabeth was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly in 1822.