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.
Union is a town in Monroe County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 548 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Monroe County. Union was so named because in frontier days, the site of the town was a rendezvous for troops during the Indian Wars. It was settled by James Alexander in 1774 and originally charted in 1799. Located east of Union is Rehoboth Church, the oldest Methodist church in West Virginia.