A public utility is a company that maintains the infrastructure for a public service. Public utilities often involve natural monopolies, and as a result are often government monopolies, or if privately owned, treated as specially regulated sectors. Public utilities can be privately owned or publicly owned. Publicly owned utilities include cooperative and municipal utilities. Municipal utilities may actually include territories outside of city limits or may not even serve the entire city. Cooperative utilities are owned by the customers they serve. They are usually found in rural areas. Private utilities, also called investor owned utilities, are owned by investors. Unlike public companies, private utilities may be listed on the stock exchange. Private, in this context, means not owned by the public or the government.

In poorer developing countries, public utilities are often limited to wealthier parts of major cities, as used to be the case in developed countries in the nineteenth century.

Examples of utilities are:

• Electric Utility, which in some instances can be Electric power transmission or electricity distribution
• Drinking water purification and distribution
• Sewage treatment and disposal
• Other waste disposal
• Natural gas distribution
• District heat generation and distribution
• Public transport by bus, train, etc.
• Cable television and telephone lines

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Public Utilities - Twitter Search

Big #banks are "socially useless" and should become public utilities. http://bit.ly/76bBAe
RSMcGregor (Robert McGregor) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:50:22 -0000
Big #banks are "socially useless" and should become public utilities. http://bit.ly/76bBAe
ND lawsuit likely over Minn. carbon dioxide taxBusinessWeekMinnesota's Public Utilities Commiss... http://reduce.li/3h81yw #commission
blognew (blog new) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:10:30 -0000
ND lawsuit likely over Minn. carbon dioxide taxBusinessWeekMinnesota's Public Utilities Commiss... http://reduce.li/3h81yw #commission
Chennai Airport used to have a nice free wi-fi system going. Now one has to pay Re. 1/min of usage. Monetization of public utilities sucks.
arindamjana (Arindam Jana) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:45:47 -0000
Chennai Airport used to have a nice free wi-fi system going. Now one has to pay Re. 1/min of usage. Monetization of public utilities sucks.
@fail_watch I think public utilities are often some of the worst offenders. They really DO own their custoemrs #custserv
MarshaCollier (Marsha Collier) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:43:54 -0000
@fail_watch I think public utilities are often some of the worst offenders. They really DO own their custoemrs #custserv
Court: Gas line fixes in Columbia's hands: based Utility Service Partners Inc. filed over a Public Utilities Commis... http://bit.ly/8lfrdG
TWT_PARTNERS (TWT PARTNERS) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:18:49 -0000
Court: Gas line fixes in Columbia's hands: based Utility Service Partners Inc. filed over a Public Utilities Commis... http://bit.ly/8lfrdG
Raleigh hires new public utilities director http://bit.ly/52LeGQ
tribiz (Triangle Biz News) Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:28:54 -0000
Raleigh hires new public utilities director http://bit.ly/52LeGQ

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