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

What it is: The North Carolina Utilities Commission regulates the rates and services of the state’s public utilities, which include providers of electricity, natural gas, water and telephone service.

From Salon

The public utilities don’t have investors or charge customers extra for profit.

From Los Angeles Times

Over the next five years, there should be a growing presence of humanoid robots in manufacturing, warehousing, education, retail and public utilities to supplement the human workforce, they add.

From The Wall Street Journal

He noted that when he first moved to L.A. nearly 20 years ago, the charge to get the nation’s largest public utility off of coal was seen as audacious and even laughable.

From Los Angeles Times

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