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.
Mount Gretna is a borough in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 242 at the 2000 census. It is a popular place in the summer, for it has a nationally-ranked juried art show (third weekend in August), jazz and chamber music concerts, lectures, book reviews, and an annual tour of historic homes and cottages (1st Saturday in August). The community also has a roller rink, lake, open-air playhouse, miniature golf course, several restaurants, playgrounds, and an award-winning ice cream parlor known as the Jigger Shop. The surrounding area, which includes seven distinct neighborhoods, has a year-round population estimated at 1,500 persons. Summertime population increases to about 2,500.