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.
Sabula is a city in Jackson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 670 at the 2000 census. It is the site of Iowa's only island city. It has a beach and campground. The Army Corps of Engineers constructed many locks and dams on the Mississippi River. The construction of Lock and Dam #13 between Clinton, IA and Fulton, IL in 1939 left Sabula an island .