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.
Verbank is a hamlet in the town of Union Vale in Dutchess County, New York, United States. Verbank is served by a post office with the ZIP code of 12585; the ZCTA for ZIP Code 12585 had a population of 956 at the 2000 census. Verbank is home to Camp Young Judaea Sprout Lake, which was established in 1976 as a camp for children grades 2–8, focused on the Jewish heritage. The Verbank Hunting And Fishing Club, on Verbank Club Road, was created in 1928. The Verbank United Methodist Church is located at the junction of County Route 9 and New York State Route 82. The Dutchess and Columbia Railroad was chartered in 1866 to build a line from Fishkill on the Hudson River northeast and north to the New York and Harlem Railroad at Craryville. On the railroad, a railroad station, the church, a post office, and two stores existed in the area that was known as Verbank Station. In its early years, Verbank was home to two gristmills and a paper mill.