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.
Ridge is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. It is near the southernmost tip of the western shore of Maryland, known as Point Lookout, has bodies of water on both sides, and has two popular seafood restaurants. A historically black Roman Catholic church is here, which formerly had a parochial school.