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:
Public Utilities :: Business and Economy
Public Utilities :: Business and Economy

Central Iowa Power Cooperative - Based in Cedar Rapids, serves 15 member utilities and 250,000 Iowans. CIPCO promotes business development and the cooperative advantage in Iowa.
Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives - Des Moines-based service organization representing the state's Rural Electric Cooperatives.
404
Iowa Department of Natural Resources - The Energy Bureau.
Northwest Iowa Power Cooperative - Electricity transmission and telecommunications.
| Ban Nam Sai community Phang Nga | |
| Next Video | |