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.
Portland is an unincorporated community in eastern Callaway County, Missouri, USA. It is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is located at 38°42′37″N 91°43′02″W / 38.71028°N 91.71722°W / 38.71028; -91.71722 (38.710161,-91.717166) on Route 94 about twenty miles northeast of Jefferson City. It was settled in the 1830s. It is situated directly on the Missouri River, and was settled mostly by German immigrants. The town was called Portland because it was mostly just a little river port used by traders on their way to St. Louis from points further upriver.