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.
Melville is an unincorporated community in northern Sweet Grass County, Montana, United States. It lies along local roads just west of U.S. Route 191, north of the city of Big Timber, the county seat of Sweet Grass County. Its elevation is 5,020 feet (1,530 m), and it is located at 46°6′11″N 109°57′14″W / 46.10306°N 109.95389°W / 46.10306; -109.95389 (46.1030055, -109.9537970). Although Melville is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 59055, which opened on 4 January 1883.