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.
Whitefield is a town in Coos County, New Hampshire, USA, in the White Mountains Region. The population was 2,038 at the 2000 census. Situated on the northern edge of the White Mountains, Whitefield is home to the Mount Washington Regional Airport and the White Mountains Regional High School. Whitefield is part of the Berlin, NH–VT Micropolitan Statistical Area. The central village in the town, where over 53% of the population resides, is defined as the Whitefield census-designated place (CDP) and is located at the junction of U.S. Route 3, New Hampshire Route 116 and NH Route 142.