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.
Gower is a city in Buchanan and Clinton Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 1,399 at the 2000 census. The Buchanan County portion of Gower is part of the St. Joseph, MO–KS Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Clinton County portion is part of the Kansas City, MO–KS Metropolitan Statistical Area.