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.
French Creek is an unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia, United States of America. French Creek is nine and half miles south of the county seat, Buckhannon, West Virginia, on West Virginia Route 20. It is home to the West Virginia State Wildlife Center, formerly the "French Creek Game Farm", a zoological park featuring native and introduced fauna. Popular exhibits at the center include American bison and mountain lions. The French Creek settlement was formed in the early 19th century by a number of New England presbyterians. Family names from these settlers include Gould, Young, Phillips, Burr, Sexton, Brooks, and Loomis. The community's first post office, the second established in the county, arrived in 1822. It was named for the village's principal stream — French Creek — a tributary of the Buckhannon River watershed. The village was also referred to as Meadeville, as it is located in the magisterial Meade District.