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.
Holtsville is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 17,006 at the 2000 census. Holtsville is the location of an IRS Processing Center (which has the lowest assigned numerical ZIP Code, 00501) and is in the Town of Brookhaven and the Town of Islip.