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.
Gifford is an unincorporated community in southeastern Hardin County, Iowa, United States. It lies along local roads south of the city of Eldora, the county seat of Hardin County. Its elevation is 945 feet (288 m). Gifford's post office was established on 9 November 1875 and discontinued on 28 February 1907. Although the post office was reopened on 17 February 1908, it was again discontinued on 31 October 1954 and attached to the Union post office. Although its post office is gone, Gifford has its own ZIP Code, 52059, even though the ZIP Code system was not implemented until nearly nine years after Gifford's post office was attached to Union's.