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.
Webster City is a city in Hamilton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 8,176 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Hamilton County. Electrolux had a large plant here manufacturing washing machines/dryers, employing about 2,000. The town, which serves as a county seat, has no courthouse square; the county buildings are located on the far south side of town, near the four-lane Highway 20 bypass. Webster City is located at a junction of lines of the Canadian National and Union Pacific Railroads.