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.
Mahopac, New York, is a hamlet in the Town of Carmel in Putnam County, New York. An exurb of New York City some 47 miles (76 km) to the south, Mahopac is located on US Route 6 on the County's southern central border with Westchester County. As of the 2000 census, the population was 8,478.