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.
Everest is a city in Brown County, Kansas, United States. The population was 314 at the 2000 census. Everest was named in honor of Colonel Aaron S. Everest, an attorney for the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad. Everest also represented Atchison County in the Kansas Senate.