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.
Granville is a town on the eastern border of Washington County, New York, United States. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town population was 6,456 at the 2000 census. The town of Granville contains a village that also bears the name Granville. Granville has been called the "Colored Slate Capital of the World. " Quarries in the town mine slate that comes in colors such as green, gray, gray black, purple, mottled green and purple, and red.