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.
Mannington is a city in Marion County, West Virginia, United States located in the hills of North-Central West Virginia. Known as Mannington since 1871, the town is rich with history and heritage – from Native American relics to frontiersmen and their settlements to Civil War legends. Perhaps what makes Mannington most unique is the impact of the oil and gas boom in 1890 that literally changed the shape of the town. The population of Mannington was 2,124 at the 2000 census.