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.
Metuchen is a Borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, which is 8 (12 km) miles northwest of New Brunswick, but is 18 (28 km) miles southwest of Newark, 24 (38 km) miles southwest of Jersey City, and 29 miles southwest of New York City, all part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 12,840. Metuchen was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 20, 1900, from portions of Raritan Township (now known as Edison). The Borough of Metuchen is completely surrounded by Edison.