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.
Oak Lawn is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 55,245 at the 2000 census. Oak Lawn is a suburb of the city of Chicago, located southwest of the city. It shares borders with the city in two areas, but is surrounded mostly by other suburbs independent of Chicago.