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.
Piedmont is a fourth-class city located in northwestern Wayne County in Southeast Missouri in the United States. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the city's population was 1,992; a 2007 estimate, however, showed the population to be 1,913. A part of the Ozarks Foothills Region, Piedmont is located off State Highway 49 on State Highway 34.