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.
Rhineland is a village in Montgomery County, Missouri, United States. The population was 176 at the 2000 census, at which time it was a town. Its name came from German immigrants from the River Rhine area. Located on the north bank of the Missouri River, Rhineland was devastated by water in the Great Flood of 1993. It became the first town to accept federal funds to move out of a flood plain. All the houses in the town were moved about 1½ miles uphill.