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.
Gassaway is a town in Braxton County, West Virginia, in the United States. The population was 901 at the 2000 census. Gassaway was incorporated in 1905 and named for Henry Gassaway Davis. The center of population of West Virginia is located in Gassaway.