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.
Collegeville is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Philadelphia on the Perkiomen Creek. Collegeville was incorporated in 1896. It is the seat of Ursinus College, opened in 1869. Population in 1910, 621. The population was 8,032 at the 2000 census.