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.
Lake City is a city in Calhoun County, Iowa, United States, founded in 1856. The population was 1,787 at the 2000 census. The sign coming into town proudly proclaims that Lake City has "Everything but a Lake. " Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, which manufacturers and restores pipe organs, is located in Lake City.