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.
Hasbrouck Heights (pronounced HAZ-brook) is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 11,662. An inner-ring suburb of New York City, Hasbrouck Heights is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Midtown Manhattan and 8 miles west of Upper Manhattan. The current mayor is Rose Marie Heck. Hasbrouck Heights was formed with the passage of a referendum on July 31, 1894, and was created from portions of Lodi Township at the height of the "Boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County. A part of the borough was annexed to Lodi in 1901.