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.
Ulysses is a borough in Potter County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 684 at the 2000 census. When first settled, in 1831, Ulysses was named Lewisville, after an early settler, Orange Lewis. Orange Lewis was a prominent farmer who later became Justice of the Peace, and then county treasurer. However, the post office and newspaper were both named Ulysses, and eventually, in 1968, the town was officially re-named Ulysses.