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.
Bird Island is a city on U.S. Route 212 in Renville County, Minnesota, United States. The city is named for a nearby 60-acre (243,000 m²) island. At one time, the island, was surrounded by sloughs and covered with many huge, beautiful trees, which were a refuge for thousands of birds, gave the town it's name. After the installation of ditches and tile the area was converted to farmland, erasing the town's namesake. KSTP TV, Channel 5 weather forecaster, Barry ZeVann, (Minneapolis NBC affiliate at the time) often listed the temperature in Bird Island during his weather forecasts in the 1970s.