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.
Basin is a town in, and the county seat of, Big Horn County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,239 at the 2000 census. The community is located near the center of the Bighorn Basin with the Big Horn River east of the town. Basin's post office, built in 1919, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.