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.
Pentress is an unincorporated community in northern Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States. It lies along West Virginia Route 7 northwest of the city of Morgantown, the county seat of Monongalia County. Its elevation is 951 feet (290 m). "Pentress" is not the only name the community has had; at various times in its history, it has been known as Minors Mills, New Brownsville, Pentrees, Pentress Junction, Statler Town, Statlers Town, Statlersville, and Stradlerstown. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 26544.