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.
Absecon is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 7,638. What is now the City of Absecon was originally incorporated as a town by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 29, 1872, from portions of Egg Harbor Township and Galloway Township. The City of Absecon was incorporated on March 24, 1902, replacing Absecon town.