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.
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York, and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 196,086 (according to the 2000 census), and an estimated 2008 population of 201,588. Yonkers borders the New York City borough of The Bronx and is 2 miles (3 km) north of Manhattan at the cities' two respective closest points. The city is home to several attractions: the Hudson River Museum, the Sherwood House, the Science Barge, Cross County Shopping Center, Yonkers Raceway, a harness racing track that has renovated its grounds and clubhouse and added legalized video slot machine gambling in 2006 in a "racino" called Empire City. The race track's renovation forced the move of the city's weekly Flea Market; now held in the parking lot of the Edward J. Murray Skating Center, located at 348 Tuckahoe Road, every Sunday between the months of May & December. There are also many large shopping areas along Central Park Avenue, informally called "Central Ave" by area residents, a name it takes officially a few miles north in White Plains, New York.