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.
Washington is a borough in Warren County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 6,712. The borough is located in the eastern most region of the Lehigh Valley. Washington was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 20, 1868, from portions of Washington Township.