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.
Grandin is a city in Cass and Traill counties in the U.S. state of North Dakota. The population was 181 at the 2000 census. It is now a bedroom community for the nearby Fargo-Moorhead area. Grandin was founded in 1881. Grandin was the birthplace of the abstract expressionist painter Clyfford Still.