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.
Dalton City is a village in Moultrie County, Illinois, United States. It is in the center of the state near the Macon County line, located along Route 121 at its intersection with Route 128 and between the larger villages of Bethany and Mount Zion. The population was 581 at the 2000 census, nearly 200 more than were present there during the 1960 census. Dalton City was incorporated as a village on September 15, 1877. The village was the birthplace of Henry Gleason, a 20th century ecologist and taxonomist. Since the Cutback amendment Dalton City has been part of the 101st district of the Illinois House of Representatives. As of 2006 it is represented by Democrat Bob Flider of Mount Zion.