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.
Plano is a city in Kendall County, Illinois, United States and is a southwest suburb of Chicago. The population was 5,633 at the 2000 census. The city is rapidly growing with new subdivisions such as Lakewood Springs nearly complete and several other developments under construction or in the planning stages. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert lives at a farm north of Plano.