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.
Westport is a coastal town located on Long Island Sound in Fairfield County, Connecticut, 47 miles north of New York City in the United States. The population was estimated at 26,615 in 2005. Westport is one of the most affluent communities in the United States and is home to the Westport Country Playhouse, a longtime regional theater, the Levitt Pavilion providing free concerts, an arts council, the Westport Public Library, and a heritage as a former artists' colony.