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.
Utica is a village in Knox and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio, along the North Fork of the Licking River. The population was 2,130 at the 2000 census. The village is home to the general headquarters (HQ) of the Velvet Ice Cream Company at the Ye Olde Mill just south of the village. The mill is a popular regional tourist attraction with an ice cream parlor and restaurant and wildlife and picnic areas. The village hosts the annual ice cream parade every Memorial Day weekend and the simultaneous Utica Ice Cream Festival.