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.
Pipestem (also Jordans Chapel or Pipe Stem) is an unincorporated community in Summers County, West Virginia, United States. It lies along West Virginia Route 20 to the south-southwest of the city of Hinton, the county seat of Summers County. Its elevation is 2,382 feet (726 m). Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 25979.