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.
Bergenfield is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 26,247. Bergenfield was formed on the basis of a referendum held on June 25, 1894, from portions of Englewood Township and Palisades Township at the height of the "boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County. New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Bergenfield as its 231st best place to live in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.