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.

---

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

---

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.

---

Other Word Forms

• public-utility
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of public utility

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

The model now providing depoliticized ATC in nearly 100 countries is an aviation public utility, funded entirely by system fees and charges.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 19, 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

Southern California Edison, which is based in Rosemead, is an investor-owned public utility that provides electricity to about 15 million people across a 50,000-square-mile area in Southern California.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 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

No one shall be deprived of his property, except by competent authority, upon proof that the condemnation is required by public utility, and previous indemnification.

From The History of Cuba, vol. 4 by Johnson, Willis Fletcher