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.
Burfordville is an unincorporated community in western Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States. It is located five miles west of Jackson on Route 34. Bollinger Mill State Historic Site is located here, on the banks of the Whitewater River. Bufordville is part of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.