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.
Parshall is a city lying within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. It is located "on" the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in Mountrail County, North Dakota, in the United States. Its population was 981 at the 2000 census. Parshall was founded in 1914, and is the home of the Paul Broste Rock Museum. On February 15, 1936, Parshall hit a temperature of -60°F (-51°C), setting a state record which still stands today. Randy Hedberg, a former NFL quarterback, was born and raised in Parshall.