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.
Rippon is an unincorporated hamlet in Jefferson County, West Virginia south of Charles Town. The village of Rippon developed in the mid-1800s at the crossroads of the Berryville and Charles Town Turnpike (Route 340), Withers-LaRue Road, and Myetstown Road. A number of farms with large old homes still surround the village, as they have since the earliest settlement in the county. According to the 2000 census, the town has a population of 223. The town was named after nearby Ripon Lodge, although an extra "P" was added to avoid confusion with a town in Wisconsin.