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.
Sibley is a city in Osceola County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,796 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Osceola County. It is named after Henry Hastings Sibley, a prominent General during the Dakota War of 1862, who eventually became the first territorial governor of Minnesota. William L. Harding, governor of Iowa from 1917 to 1921, was born in Sibley in 1877. Hawkeye Point, the highest point in the State of Iowa, is also nearby.