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.
Lansford is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, 27 miles (43 km) north of Allentown. Settled in 1845, Lansford was incorporated in 1876. In 1900, 4,888 people lived in Lansford; in 1910, 8,321 people inhabited it, and in 1940, 8,710 residents called Lansford home. The population was 4,230 at the 2000 census. Lansford is located 9 miles (15 km) south of Hazleton, near anthracite coal mines. The old No. 9 Wash Shanty coal mine in Lansford, which operated from 1855 to 1972, is now open as a tourist attraction offering tours of the mine. One of the bosses of the mine was shot as part of the union strife which included the trial of the Molly Maguires. A museum displaying a collection of mining artifacts is also on the site.