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.
Cedar Grove Township is a Township in north central Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 12,300. In 2006, the population went up to 12,848. What is now Cedar Grove was originally incorporated by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature as the Township of Verona on February 7, 1892, from portions of Caldwell Township. Portions of the township were taken to create Verona borough, based on the results of a referendum held on April 30, 1907. On April 9, 1908, the name was formally changed to Cedar Grove. New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Cedar Grove as its 4th best place to live in Essex County and 17th best place overall to live in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.