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.
Cass City is a village in Tuscola County in the Flint/Tri-Cities area of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,643 at the 2000 census, a 16.1% increase over its 1990 population of 2,276. However, the 2008 census estimate places the population at 2,493, a 5.68% reduction from the 2000 Census. It is located along the M-81 state trunkline approximately 4 miles west of that highway's intersection with M-53. The town is named after the nearby Cass River. It is currently within Michigan's 5th congressional district.