Public utility company
A public utility (Engl. Public utility , Switzerland: public service ) is a company that infrastructure for public interest holds and related services provides. Public utilities can be privately owned or publicly owned. They often appear as natural monopolists and are then publicly owned (that is, they belong directly or indirectly to the state), or - if they have private owners - they are often subject to special sector regulations .
Public utility companies
Publicly owned utilities include cooperative and municipal companies. The supply area of municipal companies can refer to a part of a city (municipality), the entire city itself or even beyond the respective city limits. Cooperative utilities , however, are self-owned by the customers the company serves. This type of utility is more likely to be found in rural areas.
Private utilities
In contrast to public utility companies, private utilities often operate in the legal form of a corporation ( stock corporation or GmbH ). The majority of the shares are usually privately owned and can also be listed on a stock exchange .
Examples of public utilities
- Electricity utilities
- Drinking water treatment and water distribution
- Sewage treatment and sanitation
- Waste disposal
- Natural gas distribution
- District heating production and distribution
- public transport
- Telecommunications , such as cable television and telephone lines
- Roads , including toll roads
The trend towards the liberalization of public utility services through market deregulation and privatization has increased sharply worldwide since the 1990s . This applies above all to the areas of power generation , power distribution and telecommunications .
