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.
Sykesville is a borough in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,246 at the 2000 census. Sykesville is the birthplace of Olga Madar (1915–1996), first woman to be a vice-president in the United Auto Workers (1970) and founder of the Coalition of Labor Union Women in 1974.