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.
Nickerson is a city in Reno County, Kansas, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2000 census. Nickerson was named in honor of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway president Thomas Nickerson when the town was founded in 1872.