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.
Vulcan is an unincorporated community in southern Iron County, Missouri, United States. It is located on Route 49 about twenty miles south of Ironton. The community was founded in 1915. It was a mining town in the past and was named for the Vulcan Iron Works in St. Louis.