Mo. Rev. Stat. § 393.010
Any corporation formed under or subject to chapter 351 or heretofore organized under the laws of Missouri for the purpose of supplying any town, city or village with gas, electricity or water shall have full power to manufacture and sell and to furnish such quantities of gas, electricity or water as may be required by the city, town or village, district or neighborhood where located for public or private buildings or for other purposes, and such corporations shall have the power to lay conductors for conveying gas, electricity or water through the streets, alleys and squares of any city, town or village with the consent of the municipal authorities thereof under such reasonable regulations as such authorities may prescribe, and such companies are authorized to set their poles, piers, abutments, wires and other fixtures along, across or under any of the public roads, streets and waters of this state in such manner as not to incommode the public in the use of such roads, streets and waters.
§ 393.010, RSMo
RSMo 1939 § 5369, A.L. 1943 p. 410 § 153