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.
Adair is a city in Adair and Guthrie Counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 839 at the 2000 census. The Guthrie County portion of Adair is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.