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.
Emblem (also Germania or Liberty Bench) is an unincorporated community in western Big Horn County, Wyoming, United States. The community has an official population of 10 although the surrounding rural area increases the number to over 100. It lies along the concurrent U.S. Routes 14, 16, and 20, west-northwest of the town of Basin, the county seat of Big Horn County. Its elevation is 4,449 feet (1,356 m), and it is located at 44°30′21″N 108°23′30″W / 44.50583°N 108.39167°W / 44.50583; -108.39167 (44.5057887, -108.3917798). Although Emblem is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 82422.