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.
Peru is a town in Clinton County in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 6,370 at the 2000 census. The town was named Peru because its mountainous nature suggested that country. The Town of Peru is in the eastern part of the county and is south of Plattsburgh.