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.
East Amherst is a hamlet, or unincorporated community. It straddles Transit Road, which in addition to being a major thoroughfare, serves as the boundary separating the towns of Amherst and Clarence in Erie County, New York, United States of America. East Amherst covers approximately 15 square miles (39 km) and is contained entirely within the perimeter of ZIP code 14051 (The nearby hamlet of Swormville also shares this ZIP code with East Amherst).