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.
Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 23,643 at the 2000 census, spread across 35 square miles (91 km). In the 2000 census, the town center, which was formerly a borough, was defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place. Other named localities in the town are Titicus, near the New York state line, and Ridgebury, near the border with Danbury.