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.
Gladstone is a city in Stark County, North Dakota in the United States. The population was 248 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dickinson Micropolitan Statistical Area. Gladstone was founded in 1882 by James Gray Campbell.