Empire District Electric (EDE) has the sovereign authority to light up its territory. The utility transmits and distributes electricity to a population base of more than 450,000 (or about 215,000 direct customers) in southwestern Missouri and adjacent areas of Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. It also supplies water to three Missouri towns and natural gas throughout most of the state. EDE's interests in fossil-fueled and hydroelectric power plants give it a generating capacity of 1,257 MW; it also buys and sells power on the wholesale market. In addition, the company is pursuing nonregulated opportunities such as leasing capacity on its fiber-optic network.

Terasen Gas is the largest natural gas distribution company in British Columbia. A Fortis subsidiary, it is the third-largest gas utility in Canada and the largest natural gas distributor in the Pacific Northwest. The utility serves 940,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in 125 communities in BC. Terasen Gas also provides gas transportation services to wholesale customers, operates a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, and pipes propane products to select areas of the province. Terasen Gas serves mainland British Columbia;Terasen Gas (Vancouver Island) serves Vancouver Island, the Powell River and the Sunshine Coast; and Terasen Gas (Whistler) provides natural gas to the town of Whistler.

Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona, S.A. (Agbar) distributes water to more than 12 million people (almost 19 million during tourist season) and provides wastewater services for more than 6.2 million people. The company also has stakes in water businesses in Chile and the UK. Agbar has sold its solid-waste collection and treatment operations in order to focus on its core water business. Activities in Spain account for about 83% of the company's sales. Agbar is 66%-owned by Holding de Infraestructuras y Servicios Urbanos S.A.

One of the country's largest water utilities, AWG provides regulated water, wastewater, and environmental services to some 6 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers through its Anglian Water unit. Anglian Water operates primarily in the east of England. The AWG Property unit is engaged in commercial and residential property development AWG's Morrison Facilities Services unit provides a repair and maintenance service to homes and businesses in the UK. AWG was acquired in 2006 by Osprey Acquisitions Limited.

Natural gas supply is as natural as country and western to some Arkansans, thanks to Arkansas Western Gas. A subsidiary of Colorado-based natural gas distribution firm SourceGas, the company distributes natural gas to approximately 152,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in more than 90 cities and towns in northern Arkansas. Arkansas Western Gas, which operates through six regional offices across its services area also provides gas transportation services to industrial, end-use, and off-system customers, and it operates a gas storage facility.

Utilities' formula for success is H-2-O. As one of the largest privately owned water and wastewater companies in the US, Utilities owns about 90 subsidiaries that operate more than 500 systems in 15 states, mainly east of the Mississippi. The company serves more than 300,000 customers. About half of the company's revenues come from water services and the other half from wastewater services; residential customers account for approximately 90% of sales. Utilities also provides reuse water for irrigation purposes and for golf courses and car washes. Expanding its coverage, in 2009 the company acquired the sewer collection system assets of Sewerage District No. 6 in Louisiana.

City of Tacoma Department of Public Utilities was fated to fulfill the electric and water desires of the City of Destiny's dwellers. The municipal utility's Tacoma Power unit generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to more than 166,000 homes and businesses in Tacoma, Washington. Tacoma Water serves about 96,000 customers; the division's water supply comes from wells and the Green River Watershed. Tacoma Public Utilities also oversees Tacoma Rail, a freight-switching railroad with some 200 miles of track, and the Click! Network, a high-speed data network that uses fiber-optic cable.

Alabamans and Floridians come together in PowerSouth Energy Cooperative (formerly Alabama Electric Cooperative), which provides wholesale power services to its member-owners (20 cooperative and municipal distribution utilities and one industrial company). Its distribution members provide electric services to almost 419,000 meters in central and southern Alabama (39 counties) and western Florida (10 counties). PowerSouth Energy Cooperative operates a 2,200-mile power transmission system and has more than 1,600 MW of generating capacity from interests in fossil-fueled and hydroelectric power plants.

The state-owned utility has 1,480 MW of generating capacity from hydroelectric and fossil-fueled power plants and operates a 2,000-mile transmission system. Grand River Dam Authority also manages two lakes.It took the dam authority of the State of Oklahoma to create the body that would dam the Grand River. The resulting power provider, the Grand River Dam Authority, is responsible for supplying wholesale electricity to municipal and cooperative utilities and industrial customers in its service territory, which encompasses 24 counties in northeastern Oklahoma.

Southwest Louisiana Electric Membership Corporation (SLEMCO) is no slowpoke when it comes to serving more than 93,400 power customers in eight Louisiana parishes. SLEMCO provides regulated power transmission and distribution services via 9,000 miles of power lines to its residential, commercial, and industrial members. It also provides energy conservation and street and security lighting services. SLEMCO extended assistance to help repair the badly damaged infrastructure in parishes from New Orleans to the Mississippi border following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.