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.
Ankeny is a city in Polk County, Iowa. The population was 27,118 at the 2000 census. A special census taken by the city in 2005 counted 36,161 residents, while the United States Census Bureau estimated that 42,287 residents lived there in 2008. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.