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.
Mandan is a city in Morton County, North Dakota in the United States. It is the county seat of Morton County. It is a core city of the Bismarck-Mandan Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 16,718 at the 2000 census. Mandan was founded in 1879 and became the county seat in 1881. Mandan is located just across the Missouri River from Bismarck. Mandan is home to the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives