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.
Gorham is a town in Coos County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,895 at the 2000 census. Gorham is located in the White Mountains, and parts of the White Mountain National Forest are in the south and northwest. Moose Brook State Park is in the west. The town is crossed by the Appalachian Trail. Tourism is a principal business. It is part of the Berlin, NH–VT Micropolitan Statistical Area. The primary settlement in Gorham, where over 61% of the town's population resides, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Gorham census-designated place and is located between the two intersections of US 2 and NH 16, along the Androscoggin River.