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.
Gallipolis Ferry is an unincorporated community in Mason County, West Virginia, United States, on the Ohio River located along WV 2. It is the site of the Robert C. Byrd Locks & Dam on the Ohio. Gallipolis Ferry lies south of Gallipolis, Ohio. The community is part of the Point Pleasant, WV–OH Micropolitan Statistical Area.