Description: North American utilities - their financial profitability and strategies Tom Flaherty, Senior VP Strategy&, PwC US is outlining how North American utilities are
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A public utility (usually just utility ) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to statewide government monopolies.
The term utilities can also refer to the set of services provided by these organizations consumed by the public: electricity , natural gas , water , and sewage . Broadband internet services (both fixed-line and mobile ) are increasingly being included within the definition.
In the United States , public utilities are often natural monopolies because the infrastructure required to produce and deliver a product such as electricity or water is very expensive to build and maintain. As a result, they are often government monopolies, or if privately owned, the sectors are specially regulated by a public utilities commission . The first public utility in the United States was a grist mill on Mother Brook in Dedham, Massachusetts .