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.
New London is a city in Rusk County, Texas, United States. The population was 987 at the 2000 census. On March 18, 1937, the London School Explosion killed in excess of three hundred people (most were children). This event led to the legal requirement in the United States that natural gas, which is normally odorless, be given an identifying smell. New London was originally known as just "London". However, as the US Post Office had already established a station at London, Texas in Kimble County, the town changed its name to "New London" in 1931.