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Public Administration vocabulary · Public Services

Public utility

Meaning in public administration, with examples

nounCommon term

In public administration, public utility means: An essential service supplied through a network, such as water, electricity, gas or sewerage, or the organization that provides it, whether publicly or privately owned.

In Turkish: altyapı hizmeti, kamu hizmet kuruluşu, şebeke hizmeti

How it is used

Often just utilities in the plural: utility bills, utility companies. Utilities are usually regulated because people cannot easily switch providers. In Turkey water is mostly supplied by municipal water administrations, while electricity and gas distribution are run by licensed companies.

Example sentences

  1. Public utilities such as water and electricity must keep running during an emergency.

  2. The public utility was fined for leaving thousands of homes without water for three days.

Common collocations

  • public utility company
  • utility bills
  • utility regulator
  • water utility
  • public serviceA service provided by the state, or on its behalf, for everyone in society, such as health care, education, transport or rubbish collection; also the work of people employed by the state.
  • regulatorA public body that sets rules for a particular sector, such as energy, banking or telecommunications, and checks that companies follow them.
  • state-owned enterpriseA company owned or controlled by the state that carries out commercial activities, such as running railways, ports, mines or energy networks.
  • subsidyMoney or other support paid by the government to keep the price of a product or service low, or to help a sector such as farming, energy or public transport.

More terms: Public Services

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