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.
Beardsley is a city in Big Stone County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 262 at the 2000 census. Beardsley holds two state monthly record high temperatures, 111°F (approx. 44°C) in September, set in 1931, and 98°F (approx. 37°C) for October, reached in 1963,, and shares with Moorhead both the July record and the all-time state high temperature of 114°, reached in Beardsley on July 29, 1917.