Cite as: 519 U. S. 278 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
The LDC's could not exact "a greater or lesser compensation for any services rendered . . . than [exacted] . . . from any other [customer] for doing a like and contemporaneous service under substantially the same circumstances and conditions." Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 4905.33 (Supp. 1990).
The State also required LDC's to serve all members of the public, without discrimination, throughout their fields of operations. See, e. g., Industrial Gas Co. v. Public Utilities Comm'n of Ohio, 135 Ohio St. 408, 21 N. E. 2d 166 (1939). They could not "pick out good portions of a particular territory, serve only select customers under private contract, and refuse service . . . to . . . other users," id., at 413, 21 N. E. 2d, at 168, or terminate service except for reasons defined by statute and by following statutory procedures, Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §§ 4933.12, 4933.121 (Supp. 1990). When serving "human needs" consumers including "residential [and] other customers . . . where the element of human welfare [was] the predominant factor," In re Commission Ordered Investigation of the Availability of Gas Transportation Service Provided by Ohio Gas Distribution Utilities to End-Use Customers, No. 85-800-GA-COI (Ohio Pub. Util. Comm'n, Aug. 1, 1989), Ohio LDC's were required to provide a firm backup supply of gas, see ibid., and administer specific protective schemes, as by helping to assure a degree of continued service to low-income customers despite unpaid bills. See, e. g., Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-18 (Ohio Monthly Record Nov. 1991).
IV
The fact that the local utilities continue to provide a product consisting of gas bundled with the services and protections summarized above, a product thus different from the marketer's unbundled gas, raises a hurdle for GMC's claim
sales tax. The record provides no support for this contention, and the constitutionality of Ohio exempting from state sales tax utility sales that are not price regulated is therefore not before the Court in this case.
297
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