public utility

American  

noun

1. a business enterprise, as a public-service corporation, performing an essential public service and regulated by the federal, state, or local government.

2. Usually public utilities. stocks or bonds of public-utility companies, excluding railroads.

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public utility British  

noun

1. Also called (US): public-service corporation.  an enterprise concerned with the provision to the public of essentials, such as electricity or water

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public utility Cultural  

1. A private company supplying water, gas, electricity, telephone service, or the like, which is granted a monopoly by the government and then regulated by the government.

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Other Word Forms

• public-utility adjective

Etymology

Origin of public utility

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

In South Carolina, public utility Santee Cooper is in talks to sell its partially built AP1000s to Brookfield, which could complete them to power AI data centers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025

American Water Works and Essential Utilities reached an agreement to merge in an all-stock deal that will result in a combined water-and-wastewater public utility valued at roughly $40 billion.

From Barron's • Oct. 27, 2025

More recently, the public utility said it couldn’t provide a price tag, and that, although possible, undergrounding transmission lines is rare, complex and expensive.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 10, 2025

Two former executives of FirstEnergy and a former public utility commissioner have been indicted in a multimillion-dollar public corruption scandal, Ohio’s attorney general, Dave Yost, said on Monday.

From New York Times • Feb. 12, 2024

What vast additions to the Conveniences and Comforts of Living might Mankind have acquired, if the Money spent in Wars had been employed in Works of public utility!

From Benjamin Franklin Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notes by Jorgenson, Chester E.