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.
Harlem is a city in Columbia County, Georgia and is part of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area. The population was 1,814 at the 2000 census. Harlem is the birthplace of comedian Oliver Hardy; the annual Harlem Oliver Hardy Festival is held each October on Main Street in his honor.