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.
Sumerco is an unincorporated community in northeastern Lincoln County, West Virginia, United States. It lies along West Virginia Route 214 east of the town of Hamlin, the county seat of Lincoln County. Its elevation is 1,211 feet (369 m). Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 25567; the population of the ZCTA for ZIP code 25567 was 709 at the 2000 census.