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.
Aldrich is a city in Wadena County, Minnesota, United States, along the Partridge River. The population was 53 at the 2000 census. The small community holds the distinction as the first permanent settlement in Wadena County and the first to establish a post office. It is also home to the first Catholic church in the area, established in 1870, as a mission church.