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.
Riverside is an affluent suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, a significant portion of which is included in the Riverside Landscape Architecture District. The population was 8,895 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Chicago, located roughly 9 miles west of downtown Chicago and two miles outside city limits. The village was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.