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.
Delmar is a hamlet in the town of Bethlehem, Albany County, New York. A census-designated place (CDP) has been established since 1980 by the US Bureau of Census for tabulating the population of what the census has defined as the boundaries of the urbanized area in and around Delmar. The population was 8,292 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of the neighboring city of Albany. NY Route 443 (Delaware Avenue) which bisects the community is the major thoroughfare, main street, and route to Albany. In 2005, CNN/Money Magazine named the Delmar ZIP Code (an area larger than the Delmar hamlet or CDP) as one of the "Best Places to Live" in America, rating it the 22nd best place to live among what it called "Great American Towns."