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.
Riverton is a city in Fremont County, Iowa, United States, along the East Nishnabotna River. The population was 304 at the 2000 census. The 1881 robbery of the Sexton Bank at Riverton was suspected to be the work of Jesse James, but it was soon determined to be the work of the outlaw Poke Wells.