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.
Ghent is an unincorporated community in Raleigh County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. On January 30, 2007, the Flat Top Little General Store on U.S. Route 19 exploded, killing four people and injuring several others, near the Winterplace Ski Resort.