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.
Hematite is an unincorporated community in eastern Jefferson County, Missouri, United States. It is located about seven miles northeast of De Soto. Stephen Osborn founded the community in 1861 and named it after the iron ore mineral hematite that is found there.