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.
Paradise is a city in Russell County, Kansas, United States. The population was 64 at the 2000 census. Paradise was founded in 1889. Originally it was named Ivamar, who according to legend, was a beautiful and popular young woman in the city. The city was renamed "Paradise" after a hunting expedition led by James Meade stumbled upon the village, having trekked through miles of burnt prairie. On the other side of a creek was green grass, which looked like a paradise to the hunters, and thus the name was changed.