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.
Mullan is a city located in a sheltered canyon of the Coeur d'Alène Mountains in Shoshone County in the northern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 840 at the 2000 census. The city is in the east end of the Silver Valley mining district; the elevation is 3250 feet (990 m) above sea level. The Lucky Friday mine is several hundred yards east of the city center The active mine descends more than 6000 feet (1.8 km) below the surface. Interstate 90 runs by the south side of the city, and the Montana border at Lookout Pass is 4 miles (7 km) east at 4700 feet (1432 m).