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.
Saint Michael is an unincorporated community in southeastern Benson County, North Dakota, United States on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation. It lies along North Dakota Highway 57 in Mission Township, southeast of the city of Minnewaukan, the county seat. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 58370. According to the 2000 Census, Saint Michael was located in census tract 9402, block group 1, and assigned blocks 1028 and 1029. The population of these census blocks was 15 and 12 people respectively.