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.
Madison is a city in Jefferson County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 12,004 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. In 2006, the majority of Madison's downtown area was designated one of the largest national historic landmarks in the United States—133 blocks of the downtown area is on the National Register of Historic Places as Madison Historic District. On August 25, 2006, a blaze severely damaged two historic downtown buildings, the Madison Elks Lodge and a former city hall building that was occupied by an insurance company.