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.
Plainville is a village in Adams County, Illinois, United States. The population was 248 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Quincy, IL–MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. In the 1860 Presidential election campaign, Plainville was the site of a political rally involving around 7,000 people. This resulted in the "Stone's Prairie Riot" on August 25, 1860, at which the Republican Party para-military organization, the "Wide Awakes", confronted armed supporters of the Democratic Party.