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.
Qulin is a town located in Butler County in Southeast Missouri in the United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the town had a population of 467; a 2008 estimate, however, showed the population to be 479, an increase of 2.60%. Qulin is included within the Poplar Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area.