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.
Henrietta is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of Rochester. The population was 39,028 at the 2000 census. Established in 1818, the town is named after Henrietta Laura Pulteney, Countess of Bath, daughter of Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet, a major British investor from the Pulteney Association in U.S. real estate at the end of the 18th century. Henrietta is home to the Rochester Institute of Technology.