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.
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 120,568, making it New Jersey's fourth largest city (by population). The population of Elizabeth was 126,179 as of the Census Bureau's 2006 estimate. It is the county seat of Union County. In 2008, Elizabeth was named one of "America's 50 Greenest Cities" by Popular Science magazine, the only city in New Jersey selected.