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.
Tamaqua is a borough in eastern Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The borough, located in Pennsylvania's Coal Region, had a population of 7,174 as of the 2000 U.S. Census. 2007 estimate was 6,696 population, down 7%. The name, pronounced tuh-MAH-qwuh, is a Native American word that means "Land of the Beaver. " The town also is known as "The Land of the Running Water. " The name is unique in that Tamaqua is the only community in the world with this name.