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.
Powers is a village in Menominee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 430 at the 2000 census. It was named for John Powers, a bookkeeper for a logging company that came into the area in the late 19th century. Powers is part of the Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area.