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.
Grandin is a city in Carter County, Missouri, United States. The population was 236 at the 2000 census. The city was established in 1887 by the Missouri Lumber and Mining Company and was named after E.B. Grandin, the primary stockholder. From 1887 to 1909, the city grew to become one of the largest lumber milling centers in the country and even had a population at the time of close to 3,000 people. Unfortunately, the Great Depression of the 1930s completely eliminated Grandin's lumber industry altogether and is largely responsible for the massive drop in Grandin's population that took place in decades to come.