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.
Payson is a village in Adams County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,066 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Quincy, IL–MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. During the 1860 Presidential campaign, the residents of Payson erected a pole on which they hung banners supporting the Democratic candidate, Stephen Douglas, and an effigy of Abraham Lincoln riding a rail. This resulted in two confrontations with the Quincy Wide Awakes, the Republican para-military organization, on August 25-26, 1860. During the second confrontation, shots were fired at the Wide Awakes, resulting in injuries. This action was related to the "Stone's Prairie Riot" at nearby Plainville.