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.
Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area, and borders the city of Cleveland. The population was 54,765 at the United States Census American Community Survey in 2007, making it the third largest city in Cuyahoga County, behind Cleveland (478,403) and Parma (85,655). Lakewood, while technically one of Cleveland's inner-ring suburbs, has an urban character, bordering the city of Cleveland to the east and south. Lakewood's population density is the highest of any city in Ohio and is roughly comparable to that of Washington, DC.