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.
Deering is an unincorporated community in Pemiscot County, Missouri. It is located eight miles west of Caruthersville. Deering began as a lumber town in the early 1900s. After the Wisconsin Lumber Company ceased operations in Deering, the town's population began to dwindle. The town is now so small is does not even have a population sign. Just directly to the east of Deering is Pondertown. The population of these two small villages combined is probably around 150. Deering has one gas station, a fertilizer plant, a post office, and Delta C-7 schools, which houses grades K-12. Delta C-7 has an enrollment of about 250. For more information on the town of Deering, see Ophelia Richardson Wade's book, Deering Plantation.