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.
Highland Park is a city in the Moraine Township of Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 31,365 at the 2000 census. It now has 33,492 citizens as of September 28, 2009. Highland Park is one of several affluent towns on the North Shore of Chicago. The city evolved from two settlements: St. John and Port Clinton, but the main downtown area was known as Port Clinton and was a lumber port.