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.
Berlin is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 18,215 at the 2000 census. It was incorporated in 1785. The geographic center of Connecticut is located in the town. Berlin is residential and industrial, and served by the Amtrak station of the same name. Berlin includes the hamlets of Kensington, South Kensington, Worthington,and East Berlin. There are 3 elementary schools, Mary E. Griswold School, Emma Hart Willard School, and Richard D. Hubbard School, as well as Catherine M. McGee Middle School, and Berlin High School.