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.
Livingston is a village in Grant and Iowa Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 597 at the 2000 census. The Iowa County portion of Livingston is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Grant County portion is part of the Platteville Micropolitan Statistical Area.