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.
New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States 14 miles (23 km) north of Danbury, on the Housatonic River. It is the largest town in the state in terms of land area at nearly 62 square miles (161 km). The population was 28,671 according to the Census Bureau's 2006 estimates. New Milford is home to the Canterbury School, a well-known Roman Catholic boarding school. The school's Chapel of Our Lady features the Jose M. Ferrer Memorial Carillon. Although the actual movie was not filmed on location in New Milford, the house that inspired the novel and film, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, was built and still stands in the Merryall section of town.