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.
Leopold is an unincorporated community in eastern Bollinger County in Southeast Missouri in the United States. It is located four miles east on Highway N about seven miles southeast of Marble Hill. The community consists of roughly 65 residents and has one of the smallest public high schools in the state of Missouri. Heavily Roman Catholic and of Dutch-German descent, the community is one of the most affluent in Southeast Missouri. Leopold is part of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is well known for its annual Leopold Picnic and its public school which excels in both academics and athletics.