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.
Harwich is a town on Cape Cod, in Barnstable County in the state of Massachusetts in the United States. Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The town is a popular vacation spot, located near the Cape Cod National Seashore. Harwich's beaches are on "the Sound side" of Cape Cod; the shores that face Nantucket Sound. Harwich has 3 active harbors. Saquatucket, Wychmere and Allen Harbors are all in Harwich Port. The town is known for its many cranberry bogs, which produce cranberries that are commercially farmed. Harwich also contains the largest lake on the Cape, called Long Pond, which serves as a private airport for planes with the ability to land on water. In the summer, the town is host to the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Mariners are the 2008 league champions. The team plays at Whitehouse Field. For geographic and demographic information on specific parts of the town of Harwich, please see the articles on East Harwich, Harwich Center, Harwich Port, North Harwich and West Harwich.