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.
Little Falls is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 10,855. It is located about fifteen miles from New York City. Little Falls was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 2, 1868, from portions of Acquackanonk Township. On March 25, 1914, portions of the township were taken to form the borough of West Paterson. The old Morris Canal, once an important artery of trade and transportation between the Delaware and Hudson Rivers, wound its way through the town, and vestiges of it still serve as a reminder of Little Falls' long history. Several well-maintained residences and other structures from the last century serve to further strengthen the town's sense of pride in its past.