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.
Dickens is an unincorporated community in southwestern Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It lies along Nebraska Highway 23 southwest of the city of North Platte, the county seat of Lincoln County. Its elevation is 3,136 feet (956 m). The community is named for Charles Dickens. Although Dickens is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 69132.