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.
Doylestown is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 27 miles (43 km) north of Philadelphia. At the turn of the century in 1900, 3,034 people lived in the borough of Doylestown, and in 1910, 3,304 people lived there. As of the 2000 census, the borough population was 8,227. The borough is the county seat of Bucks County.