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.
Norborne is a city in Carroll County, Missouri, United States. The population was 805 at the 2000 census. Norborne was founded in 1868 by Norborne B. Coats a civil engineer for the railroad. The town has numerous small businesses, but is mostly an agricultural community. Norborne is the self-proclaimed Soybean Capital of the World and holds a Soybean Festival every year during the weekend of the second Saturday in August. The Festival begins on Thursday evening and concludes on Saturday night. In June 2009, Norborne, Missouri got hit by straight-line winds in excess of 74 mph which severely damaged buildings, homes and property.