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.
Matthews is a city in New Madrid County, Missouri, United States. The population was 605 at the 2000 census. The former actor Conlan Carter, who appeared on the television series The Law and Mr. Jones with James Whitmore and Combat! with Rick Jason and Vic Morrow, both on ABC, was reared in Matthews. He was the 1952 Missouri champion pole vaulter.