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.
Wantagh (pronounced /WAHN-taw/) is a hamlet and census-designated place (an unincorporated section of the Town of Hempstead) in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population of Wantagh was 18,971 at the time of the 2000 census. Wantagh is known as "The Gateway to Jones Beach" due to its location directly north of the famous Jones Beach State Park-developed State Park.