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.
Old Lyme is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Main Street of the town is a historic district. the town has long been a popular summer resort and artists' colony. The town is named after Lyme Regis, England. The US headquarters of Sennheiser is located in Old Lyme, as is Callaway Cars, the Florence Griswold Museum, the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, and the Lyme Art Association. Old Lyme and its neighboring town Lyme are the namesake for Lyme disease. The town of Old Lyme contains several villages, including Black Hall, Laysville, Lyme, Soundview, and South Lyme. The population was 7,406 at the 2000 census.