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.
The City of Sierra Madre, is a town in Los Angeles County, California. The population was about 10,580 at the time of the 2000 census. It is in the Foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains below the southern edge of the Angeles National Forest with the cities of Pasadena and Altadena to its west, and Arcadia to its south and east.