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.
Northfield is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 7,725. Northfield was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 21, 1905, from portions of Egg Harbor Township. A portion of Egg Harbor Township was transferred to Northfield in 1931, and then reverted back to Egg Harbor Township in 1933.