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.
Midkiff is an unincorporated community in northeastern Upton County, Texas, United States. It lies along FM 2401 and FM 3095 north of the city of Rankin, the county seat of Upton County. Its elevation is 2,736 feet (834 m). Although Midkiff is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 79755; the ZCTA for ZIP Code 79755 had a population of 245 at the 2000 census. Founded in an oil boom in the early 1950s, Midkiff was named for a former community in nearby areas of Midland County. Its post office was established in September 1952.