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.
Gilmore City is a city in Humboldt and Pocahontas Counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 556 at the 2000 census. The town was originally known as Blooming Prairie but the name was changed to Gilmore City in the early 1880s. It was named for C. N. Gilmore who was the superintendent of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad (CRI & P). The town was incorporated in 1887.