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.
Chesapeake City is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 787 at the 2000 census. The town was originally named by Czech colonist Augustine Herman the Village of Bohemia (or Bohemia Manor), but the name was changed in 1839 when the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was built. Today, the town contains numerous old homes from that era that have been converted in to bed and breakfasts, restaurants, and the local historical museum.