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.
Northport is a village in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 7,606. Students attend the Northport-East Northport Union Free School District. The village of Northport sits along New York State Route 25A in the Town of Huntington, on Long Island's picturesque North Shore. It is known for its bucolic main street which still bears trolley rails from a long discontinued streetcar that brought people to the village from the Long Island Rail Road station in East Northport. Main Street ends at the village dock and village green, site of numerous "concerts in the park" on summer evenings. It has a number of fine restaurants and ice cream parlors, antique stores, as well as an old-style barbershop, and other independent retailers. Northport's old world charm, beauty and sense of community make this a very desirable location in Western Suffolk County with around an hour commute to New York City.