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.
Elkview is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,182 at the 2000 census. It is named after the Elk River, which flows into the Kanawha River. Interstate 79, the "Jennings Randolph Expressway", provides highway access to Elkview from exit 9. U.S. Route 119 also reaches Elkview. A shopping center was built off I-79 which includes a Country Inn & Suites, Kroger, K-Mart,and several fast food restaurants. This small town is nestled between the larger town of Clendenin, and the municipality of Kanawha County, Charleston.