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.
Shartlesville, Pennsylvania is a small unincorporated community in Upper Bern Township, located in upper Berks County. It is located just south of Interstate 78 and is served by the Hamburg Area School District. It is home to the Shartlesville Hotel, which suffered major roof damage in February 2009 during a wind storm, which also knocked down a billboard in Reading and blew off roof tiles of the Pagoda in eastern Reading. The community is also the home of Roadside America, a large community of miniature trains and villages, located off of Interstate 78, that is open to the public.