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.
Collingswood is a Borough in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 14,326. Collingswood was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 22, 1888, from portions of Haddon Township, based on the results of a referendum held that same day. The Borough does not license any establishments to serve or sell alcoholic beverages inside borough limits, a policy that dates back to 1873. Collingswood is located 7 miles east of Philadelphia, and is a suburb of that city.