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.
Nisswa is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,953 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city is near Gull Lake. This city is well known as a tourist destination due to its many unique stores including Stonehouse Coffee, a coffee shop and cafe that roasts beans in the store, an ice cream parlor and candy shop, The Chocolate Ox, and Zaiser's, a renowned shoe store with many other slightly random items. The Paul Bunyan Bike trail also runs through Nisswa.