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.
Alberton is a town in Mineral County, Montana, United States. The population was 374 at the 2000 census. It was named for Albert J. Earling, president of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Alberton was the location of a major chlorine chemical release in 1996.,