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.
Burlington is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Philadelphia. As of 2007, the city population was 9,485. Burlington was first incorporated on October 24, 1693, and was reincorporated by Royal Charter on May 7, 1733. After American independence, the city was incorporated by the State of New Jersey on December 21, 1784. On March 14, 1851, the city was reincorporated and enlarged. Burlington was originally the county seat of Burlington County, but in the 1900s as the population moved away from the Delaware River the county seat was moved to a more central location, Mount Holly.