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 Meadow is a hamlet (and census-designated place or CDP) in Nassau County, New York, United States. East Meadow is an unincorporated area of the Town of Hempstead. Its name is derived from being the meadow of Hempstead Plains east of the Meadow Brook (originally a brook, now replaced by a parkway of the same name). Located just 30 miles (48 km) from downtown Manhattan and with approximately 86% of residents commuting to work, East Meadow is a thriving suburb of New York. The population was 37,461 at the 2000 census. East Meadow's postal ZIP code is 11554, and its telephone area code is 516.