public utility

NOUN

government-run public service

Synonyms

WEAK

communications company electric company telephone company water company

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The company is working with the Tennessee Valley Authority, a public utility known as the TVA, on that project.

From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026

In South Carolina, public utility Santee Cooper is in talks to sell its partially built AP1000s to Brookfield, which could complete them to power AI data centers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025

Southern California Edison, 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 • Apr. 30, 2025

Ohio’s attorney general charged two former executives of FirstEnergy and a onetime public utility commissioner in a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal.

From New York Times • Feb. 13, 2024

The one aims at private happiness, the other at public utility.

From A Short History of English Liberalism by Blease, Walter Lyon