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.
Jolo (pronounced "Joe-Lowe") is an unincorporated community on West Virginia Route 83 in McDowell County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The community was made famous in the book Salvation on Sand Mountain by Dennis Covington for being the home of The Church Of The Lord Jesus With Signs Following, a renowned snake handling church. Services at the church have been filmed and widely shown on television. The name, according to local tradition, derives from the name of the first postmaster, Joseph Lowe. The community is featured in the 2008 novel Final Theory.