Abstract
The expression “public utility” or “utility”, first used in 1903, is defined by Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (http://www.merriam-webster.com), as “a business organization performing a public service and subject to special governmental regulation”. In the same manner, the Encyclopaedia Britannica (http://www.britannica.com) explains “public utility” as “an enterprise that provides certain classes of services to the public, including common carrier transportation; telephone and telegraph; power, heat, and light; and community facilities for water, sanitation, and similar services”. Therefore, “public utility” could be defined as a business organization that provides, by means of an infrastructure, specific services to the public, subject to special governmental regulation to facilitate coverage according to social criteria. Within this definition, we may find, amongst other types of businesses, airlines, railroads, buses, trucking, canals, ferries, electricity, light, oil, natural gas, heat, water, sanitation, waste collection, or telecommunications companies.
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