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.
Eastlake is a "home rule" village in Manistee County U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 441 at the 2000 census. [home rule villages act, PA 278 of 1909) Home rule refers to the authority of a city or village under a state's constitution and laws to draft and adopt a charter for its own government.