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.
Quakertown is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The borough is 16 miles (26 km) south of Bethlehem and 29 miles (47 km) north of Philadelphia, making Quakertown a border town of both the Delaware Valley and Lehigh Valley metropolitan areas. Quakertown is considered part of the Allentown–Bethlehem urbanized area and the Philadelphia–Camden–Vineland (PA–NJ–DE) MSA.