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.
Kerkhoven is a city in Swift County, Minnesota, United States, located roughly 100 miles (160 km) west of the Twin Cities region of Minneapolis/St. Paul along U.S. Route 12. It was incorporated as a city in 1881, largely due to the railroad recently built there. The population was 759 at the 2000 census. Kerkhoven is home to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg High School on the west side of the community. The current building (which replaced the 1904 McKinley Building complex) was constructed in 1994. Kerkhoven's population has declined during the past 50 years due to the decline of agriculture based jobs. The community is home to Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Evangelical Free churches. The local high school (Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints) claimed the 2008 Minnesota High School Football Class A Championship by defeating Royalton, MN.