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.
Catawissa is a small unincorporated community in Franklin County, Missouri, United States, on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, 39 miles from St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in 1839 and initially had four stores. It is located at the junction of Route N and Route O, southwest of Pacific. It has never been incorporated and has always been a township. Its post office opened in 1860. Latitude & Longitude: 38°25'29" N, 90°46'57" W (38.42472N, -90.7825W) Survey: T. 43 N. , R. 2 E. , Sec. 34 Elevation: 530 ft. Population 2,201 (2000 Census for Zip Code 63015 - Catawissa) As of 2007, the community consists of two churches, a post office, a school (Nike Elementary School), a state conservation area (Old Wooden River Bridge on north bank), a farm supply store, a bar, two gas stations (Wayside and Speedie Mart), one closed gas station (R&S) and several small shops. A strip mall is under construction at the intersection of Route N and Route O. Catawissa is the site where Bertha Gifford poisoned at least three and as many as seventeen people between 1911 and 1928. The house where most of the murders took place is still standing on Old Bend Road about one mile from the Meramec River.