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.
Hampton Falls (formerly the Third Parish and Hampton falls) is a New England town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The town was settled in 1638, was a part of Norfolk County, Massachusetts Colony from 1643 to 1679, and became a town in 1726. The population was 1,890 at the 2000 census. The New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning estimated the town's 2007 population at 2,080.