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.
Watkins (also once called Box Elder) is an unincorporated community in Adams and Arapahoe counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. The Watkins Post Office has the ZIP Code 80137. In 2006, its population was estimated at 1,955 residents: 306 in Adams County, and 1,649 in Arapahoe County. Long an unincorporated community, Watkins incorporated as a town on June 15, 2004, and voted to dissolve on November 7, 2006. The incorporation was an effort to avoid annexation by Aurora, which surrounds the town on three sides. However, on November 7, 2006, the town voted to revert to being an unincorporated community by a margin of 308-184. Watkins is involved in trying to build the First Park in Adams County and the Watkins Historical Preservation Society is co-operating with the town on some historical buildings for installation in the park as well. Front Range Airport is located near Watkins.