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.
Franklin Lakes is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The Franklin Lakes zip code is 07417. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 10,422. Franklin Lakes has the 18th-highest per-capita income of all 566 municipalities in the state. Nationwide, Franklin Lakes ranks 17th among the Highest-income places in the United States with a population of at least 10,000. Becton Dickinson and Medco Health Solutions both have their corporate headquarters in Franklin Lakes. Franklin Lakes was formed by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 11, 1922, from portions of Franklin Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April 11, 1922. According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 9.8 square miles, of which, 9.4 square miles (24.5 km) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km) of it (3.87%) is water.