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.
Boyds, Maryland is an unincorporated community in rural Montgomery County, Maryland, located north of Washington, DC. Its ZIP Code is 20841. According to the United States 2000 Census, the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) for the town of Boyds covers an area of 27.54 square miles (71.3 km) and has a population of 2,025. Black Hill Regional Park, and most notably Little Seneca Lake, are part of Boyds.