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.
Grosse Pointe Farms is an upscale suburban city bordering Detroit located in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,764 at the 2000 census. It is bordered by Grosse Pointe on the west, Detroit on the north, Grosse Pointe Woods and Grosse Pointe Shores on the northeast, and Lake Saint Clair on the south and east. Lakeshore Drive begins in Grosse Pointe Farms, where, just east of Fisher Rd. , the eastbound driver or pedestrian on Jefferson Ave. descends to lake level, following the curvature of the lakefront to the northeast.