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.
Clayton is a Borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 7,139. What is now Clayton was originally formed as Clayton Township, which was created on February 5, 1858, from portions of Franklin Township. Portions of the township were taken to form Glassboro Township on March 11, 1878. Clayton was formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 9, 1887, from portions of Clayton Township. The remainder of Clayton Township was absorbed by the Borough of Clayton on April 14, 1908, and the township was dissolved.