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.
Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the largest city in the county, and is the 6th largest in the State. It is the most southerly incorporated city in the State of Maine and the principal commercial center of York County. The population was 20,942 at the 2000 census. Biddeford includes the resort community of Biddeford Pool, Fortunes Rocks, and Granite Point. The city is home to the University of New England and the annual La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival. Biddeford is a principal city of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Area.