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.
Buford is an unincorporated community in Albany County, Wyoming, United States. It is located between Laramie and Cheyenne on Interstate 80. Buford is at 8000 feet (2500 m) of elevation, making it the highest community on Interstate 80. The community is noted for the Buford Trading Post. Buford was established during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad in Wyoming. At this time the town boasted a population of 2000 itinerant workers. As the railroad progressed these workers moved west with the railroad; Buford has shrunk ever since. In 1880 a post office was built, and the community renamed to Buford in honor of Major General John Buford. Buford has been visited by Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin D. Roosevelt; also, it is said that Buford was once robbed by Butch Cassidy.