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.
Baileyville is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,686 at the 2000 census. Within the town is the census-designated place of Woodland. The town was originally settled by Quakers in 1780. In 1830, Ezekiel Bailey began commercial manufacture of oilcloth in 1830, when it was made by hand. The business flourished and expanded until it comprised several factories, which were burnt down in 1921.