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.
Bridgehampton is a hamlet in the South Fork of Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 1,381 at the 2000 census. Bridgehampton is in the Town of Southampton. Shortly after the founding of Southampton in 1640, settlers began to move east to the area known by the Shinnecock Indians as Sagaponack and Mecox. At the head of Sagg Pond the hardy Pilgrims established a settlement called Bullhead, later renamed Bridgehampton—after the bridge built across the pond. Sagg Bridge was built in 1686 by Ezekiel Sandford. The Bridge was the link between Mecox and Sagaponack and gave this locality its name of Bridgehampton.