public utility
a business enterprise, as a public-service corporation, performing an essential public service and regulated by the federal, state, or local government.: Compare utility (def. 3).
Usually public utilities. stocks or bonds of public-utility companies, excluding railroads.
Origin of public utility
1Other words from public utility
- pub·lic-u·til·i·ty, adjective
Words Nearby public utility
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use public utility in a sentence
Pasquale Esposito worked for the city for more than 30 years, retiring in 2009 as a coordinator of public utilities, according to city records.
How a Chicago Political Hangout Went From Bustling to Boarded-Up — Even After the City Promised Help | by Mick Dumke | December 17, 2020 | ProPublicaAt least one 2015 paper suggested public utilities are worse at complying with important regulations and maintaining infrastructure because they operate at the pleasure of the voter.
Power to the People of San Diego? It’s Possible, But the Window Is Closing | MacKenzie Elmer | December 16, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoTypically, he said, a public utility commission would determine whether a proposed project should move forward.
Inside the Utility Company Lobbying Blitz That Will Hike Electric Bills | by Patrick Wilson, Richmond Times-Dispatch | October 9, 2020 | ProPublicaIt is the technical solution to the systemic problems Big Tech has created with its monopoly over the internet, a public utility that should be completely open — bringing back the concept of the programmable web.
Dfinity’s valuation soars to $9.5Bn after revealing its governance system and token economics | Mike Butcher | September 30, 2020 | TechCrunchWhat it doesn’t include is a right for the city to buy SDG&E’s equipment should it want to form its own public utility.
Morning Report: Sheriff’s Department Excused Captain’s Lawbreaking | Voice of San Diego | September 24, 2020 | Voice of San Diego
We have a provision in our Constitution like this: the use of water for irrigation and the like shall forever be a public utility.
You can judge better than I whether it will be of any public utility to lay them before Congress.
I have written in the greatest haste upon a subject, which I hope your Excellency will turn to public utility.
I lament to see qualities, rare and valuable, squandered away without any public utility.
Thoughts on the Present Discontents | Edmund BurkeSuch a regulation, however, was founded purely on considerations of public utility.
Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 2 (of 3) | Theodore Parker
British Dictionary definitions for public utility
an enterprise concerned with the provision to the public of essentials, such as electricity or water: Also called (US): public-service corporation
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for public utility
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.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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