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.
Suncook is a census-designated place (CDP) in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,362 at the 2000 census. Half of Suncook village is located in the town of Pembroke, with the remainder in Allenstown. The village of Suncook formed along the falls of the Suncook River, which drops 70 feet (21 m) in one-half mile (1 km) just before joining the Merrimack River. Much of the center of the village is occupied by 19th-century factory buildings which once used the river's energy for hydropower. The buildings have now largely been converted to other uses.