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

The company is working with the Tennessee Valley Authority, a public utility known as the TVA, on that project.

From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026

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

About 4,600 customers remained without power as of Monday morning, the public utility company said on social media.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2024

He had recruited the architects to design the public buildings with a distinctive aesthetic that would make them as much art as public utility.

From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2024

He was foremost in all works of reform and public utility.

From Fern Vale (Volume 3) or the Queensland Squatter by Munro, Colin