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.
Maryland Heights is a second-ring West-Central suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 26,339 as of 2006. The city was incorporated in 1985. Edwin L Dirck was elected the city's first mayor. Mark M. Levin has been City Administrator since August 1985.