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.
Roby is an unincorporated community in northwestern Texas County, Missouri, United States. It is located about sixteen miles northwest of Houston and ten miles south of Fort Leonard Wood at the northern junction of Routes 17 and 32. Roby is home to the "Mark Twain National Forest" campgrounds.