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.
Cimarron is a village in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 917 at the 2000 census. Philmont Scout Ranch, an extensive "high-adventure base" operated by the Boy Scouts of America, is located just west of Cimarron. The Chase Ranch (famous for its heart-shaped brand and allegedly the Marlboro Man's place of origin), Ted Turner's Vermejo Park Ranch, the CS Ranch, the UU Bar Ranch (formerly the property of Waite Phillips), the Elliott Barker State Wildlife Area, the Valle Vidal, and Carson National Forest are also located in the Cimarron area. The village is a pioneer of the four-day school week, which it originally implemented in the early 1970s, during a time of rising fuel and utility prices.