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.
Walker Valley is a hamlet located in the western part of the Town of Shawangunk in Ulster County, New York, U.S. , generally thought of as coterminous with the 12588 ZIP code. The population was 758 at the 2000 census. Walker Valley is one of the three geographic parts of the town that local residents use. It is centered around NY 52 in the western part of town, where it begins to slope up to the Shawangunk Ridge.