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.
Stratford is a Borough in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 7,271. A campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is located in Stratford. The Borough of Stratford was created on February 13, 1925, from Clementon Township, one of seven municipalities created from the now-defunct township.