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.
Pilot Grove is an unincorporated community in northern Lee County, Iowa, United States. It lies along local roads northwest of the city of Fort Madison, the county seat of Lee County. Its elevation is 643 feet (196 m), and it is located at 40°45′46″N 91°32′13″W / 40.76278°N 91.53694°W / 40.76278; -91.53694Coordinates: 40°45′46″N 91°32′13″W / 40.76278°N 91.53694°W / 40.76278; -91.53694 (40.7628123, -91.5368236). Although Pilot Grove is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 52648, which opened on 1837-05-01. There has not always been a Pilot Grove post office since that date: it was discontinued on 1894-06-30, and when it was reestablished on 1895-08-07, it was under the name of Overton. The name was not restored to Pilot Grove until 1908-03-19. Pilot Grove is part of the Fort Madison–Keokuk, IA-MO Micropolitan Statistical Area.