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.
Oakmont is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA. It is a Pittsburgh suburb and part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. In 1900, 2,323 people lived here; in 1910, 3,436, and in 1940, 6,260. The population was 6,911 at the 2000 census. Incorporated as a town in 1889, this Allegheny River community began in 1816 when a farmer, Michael Bright, bought a large tract of land 15 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The settlement took its name from a landmark tree, as the deed description reads, "Beginning at a black oak on the bank of the Allegheny River ... " The borough is best known for the Oakmont Country Club, a premier golf course which has been the site of the United States Open Golf Championship tournaments in 1927, 1935, 1953, 1962, 1973, 1983, 1994, and 2007, and is scheduled to host it again in 2016. Oakmont is also home to the historic Oaks Theater, an independent movie theater, which shows artsy first-run films and cult classic cinema.