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.
Center is a city in Oliver County, North Dakota in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated town in Oliver County. The population was 678 at the 2000 census. Center was founded in 1903. The town is somewhat notable for the blizzard-related death of Hazel Miner, who would go on to be the subject of a song and memorials.