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

“Huge profits shouldn’t be made from a public utility that everyone needs,” wrote Sharon K of Fullerton, who also declined to give her last name.

From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2025

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

Why are the bonds of successful public utility corporations a good investment?

From Business English A Practice Book by Buhlig, Rose