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.
Grantsville is a town in Calhoun County, West Virginia, in the United States. The population was 565 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Calhoun County. The town was established along the Little Kanawha River in 1865 and named for Ulysses S. Grant. Grantsville is home to Wayne Underwood Park, which includes a .25 mile long walking trail, and to the annual West Virginia Wood Festival.