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.
Guide Rock is a village in Webster County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 245 at the 2000 census. The town was the first settlement in Webster County, with the first white settlers arriving in 1870. The town was named after a rocky bluff on the opposite bank of the Republican River. A historical marker near the village marks the former site of a large Pawnee village.