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.
Sterling is a city in Rice County, Kansas, United States. The population was 2,642 at the 2000 census. Peace was the original name of the Quaker community now known as Sterling, but in 1876 the named was changed by two brothers that named the town for their father, Sterling Rosan.