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.
Branchville is a borough in Sussex County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 845. The borough is located in the northernmost region of Sussex County. Branchville was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 9, 1898, from portions of Frankford Township. An additional portion of Frankford Township was annexed as of March 1, 1951.