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.
Otsego is a city in Allegan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,934 at the 2000 census. The city is within Otsego Township, but is administratively autonomous. Otsego is situated on M-89 about three miles west of Plainwell and US 131. It is about nine miles southeast of Allegan and the Kalamazoo River flows east to west through the city.