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.
Johnston is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 28,195 at the 2000 census. Johnston is the site of the Clemence Irons House(1691) a stone-ender museum and the only landfill in Rhode Island. Incorporated on March 6, 1759, Johnston was named for the colonial attorney general, August Johnston.