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.
Chadron (the Ch is pronounced as the Sh is pronounced in Shut) is a city in Dawes County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 5,634 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Dawes County. Chadron is the home of Chadron State College. Chadron also is the United States Forest Service headquarters of the Nebraska and Samuel R. McKelvie National Forests, and the Buffalo Gap, Fort Pierre, and Oglala National Grasslands. The is located near Chadron, at the site of the American Fur Company's former Bordeaux Trading Post.