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.
Slanesville is an unincorporated community in northeastern Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Slanesville is located at the crossroads of Bloomery Pike with Slanesville Pike (Hampshire County Route 3) and Cold Stream Road (Hampshire County Route 45/20). Slanesville Pike and Cold Stream Road formerly made up the Springfield Grade Road that ran from Capon Bridge to Springfield. According to the 2000 census, the Slanesville community has a population of 691.