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.
Tuckerton is a Borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, named for founder Ebenezer Tucker (1758-1845), and was the third port of entry in the United States As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 3,517. Tuckerton was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 18, 1901, from portions of Little Egg Harbor Township. The borough is surrounded by Little Egg Harbor Township, but is politically independent.