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.
Morrill is a village located in the extreme west panhandle of Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Scottsbluff, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 957 at the 2000 census. In 1886 the first settlers found a fertile valley at the mouth of the Sheep Creek draw and staked their claims. They came from Fort Collins, Colo. , in search of a new home. They called their new home Collins, which was located nearly a mile north of present Morrill. In 1900 the railroad determined the relocation of what is now Morrill. The new town was named for Charles Henry Morrill, president of the Lincoln Land Company. As president he laid out a tract of land for a town. In 1901 a post office was opened and the Village of Morrill was incorporated in April 1907. Some of the original buildings are still occupied today with thriving businesses. Electricity came to Morrill about 1912.