Types of Utility Companies

Utilities are vital for everyday living. People find them very difficult to live without. Electricity, heat, water and communication are the types of utilities provided by either public or private organizations. Today the organizations are divided into three different types of utility companies.

Types of Utility Companies

Publicly Owned Utilities

Counties, cities and states own this type of utility company. They make their own resources and sell them to individuals or other utility companies. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC oversees public owned utility companies. This type of organization is not for profit and provides the utilities at a low cost. Public employees manage the organizations so that the public has a full view of decisions.

Investor Owned Utilities

This type of utility company is privately owned. The shareholders mainly run them. The main focus of this organization is to deliver utilities rather than producing it. More engineers and IT specialists make up the staff here. More money is in their operating budget than other types of utility companies. This type of organization has an advantage where they can make decisions and act on them much faster because they have more resources available. The decisions made are not available for the public to view.

Electric Cooperatives

This is a private organization that is made by the government. It provides services to places that do not offer profit to investor owned utilities. They people who they serve are the owners of the company. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created this type of utility company in the 1930s and more than 900 operate today. They provide utilities to small communities throughout the United States. Today more than 42 million Americans rely on them for power.