a company that performs a public service; subject to government regulation
<noun.group>
the quality of being of practical use
<noun.attribute>
the service (electric power or water or transportation) provided by a public utility
<noun.act> the cost of utilities never decreases all the utilities were lost after the hurricane
(economics) a measure that is to be maximized in any situation involving choice
<noun.quantity>
(computer science) a program designed for general support of the processes of a computer
<noun.communication> a computer system provides utility programs to perform the tasks needed by most users
a facility composed of one or more pieces of equipment connected to or part of a structure and designed to provide a service such as heat or electricity or water or sewage disposal
<noun.artifact> the price of the house included all utilities [ adj ]
used of beef; usable but inferior
<adj.all>
capable of substituting in any of several positions on a team
<adj.all> a utility infielder
Utility \U*til"i*ty\, n. [OE. utilite, F. utilit['e], L. utilitas, fr. utilis useful. See {Utile}.] 1. The quality or state of being useful; usefulness; production of good; profitableness to some valuable end; as, the utility of manure upon land; the utility of the sciences; the utility of medicines.
The utility of the enterprises was, however, so great and obvious that all opposition proved useless. --Macaulay.
2. (Polit. Econ.) Adaptation to satisfy the desires or wants; intrinsic value. See Note under {Value}, 2.
Value in use is utility, and nothing else, and in political economy should be called by that name and no other. --F. A. Walker.
3. Happiness; the greatest good, or happiness, of the greatest number, -- the foundation of utilitarianism. --J. S. Mill.
Usage: {Utility}, {Usefulness}. Usefulness has an Anglo-Saxon prefix, utility is Latin; and hence the former is used chiefly of things in the concrete, while the latter is employed more in a general and abstract sense. Thus, we speak of the utility of an invention, and the usefulness of the thing invented; of the utility of an institution, and the usefulness of an individual. So beauty and utility (not usefulness) are brought into comparison. Still, the words are often used interchangeably.
He promised "frugality with economic development." The three parties will have to agree on specific measures, such as boosting public utility rates and a proposed one-time tax on personal and company earnings.
Mr. Eastwood said that the company hasn't decided what it will charge and that California utility regulators must approve the fees.
Standard & Poor's Corp. said it lowered its ratings on the El Paso, Texas-based utility's senior debt to triple-B-minus from triple-B, and the ratings on preferred stock to double-B-plus from triple-B-minus.
Talks with Michigan Bell resumed Tuesday, and continued early Wednesday, said spokesmen for the utility and the union.
If the utility commission follows its normal schedule for public hearings, the rate change, if granted, would go into effect next January.
Long Island legislators and Lilco opponents reacted angrily to some tentative terms of the pact, including one that would terminate a lawsuit charging Lilco with fraud, and seeking to recover from the utility $2.9 billion already paid by Lilco ratepayers.
The purchase would be a relatively low-cost alternative to building new plants, a company spokesman said. The Portland, Ore., diversified utility has operations in seven states.
Four new directors were appointed at this utility firm, increasing board membership to 16.
In composite trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, the utility's shares closed at $25.375, up $1.375.
Fitch downgraded the utility's rating on $800 million in first-mortgage bonds to A from AA.
By contrast, spending on cars, medicine and utility bills rose. Two signs that Japan might be near the trough of its downturn emerged yesterday with a slowdown in the pace of corporate profits decline and a slight recovery in money supply.
However, revenues for its energy and utility systems and commercial segments were down for the third quarter.
Canadian National Railways, the Canadian government-owned railway company, agreed to sell its Newfoundland telephone utility to Newfoundland Telephone Co. for 170 million Canadian dollars (US$138.6 million).
Under terms, ASK will make and market natural gas-powered cogeneration power systems designed to produce electricity at less cost than a utility would charge a small business.
There was also some interest in utility stocks that have either recently passed or are approaching deadlines for investors to qualify for dividends.
That compares with a 7.9% average yield for 90 dividend-paying utility stocks computed by the Chicago firm of Duff & Phelps Inc.
Upgrades also exceeded downgrades in the hospital, educational institutions, municipal utility, and tax-backed issue sectors.
It also defined as a public utility holding company any individual or entity that owns 10% or more of the voting securities of a firm that produces, transmits and distributes electricity for sale.
Public Service estimates it costs the utility between $10 million and $14 million each month to buy energy that would have been supplied by the two Peach Bottom units now out of service.
The civil suit accused the utility of violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.
Georgia Power Co., a unit of Southern Co., Atlanta, said it will ask a Georgia state court to review the recent decision of state utility regulators to grant the company a rate increase substantially less than it requested.
Tucson Electric, Arizona's second-largest electric utility, has been hurt by its investments in real estate and financial services, and has grappled with an apparent excess construction of generating capacity.
An acquisition by PG&E would be the ultimate irony for the Sacramento utility, which was spawned by a revolt against the investor-owned utility and which took over PG&E service territory in 1947 after a long, bitter battle.
An acquisition by PG&E would be the ultimate irony for the Sacramento utility, which was spawned by a revolt against the investor-owned utility and which took over PG&E service territory in 1947 after a long, bitter battle.
The 17.1% notes were issued at a price of 102, Bell Canada, Canada's largest telephone utility, said.
The utility plans to finance the station with Dollars 40m of its own capital, credits worth Dollars 48m, and a share placement of Dollars 74m.
The utility moved to erase that deficit by taking a $141 million charge for Marble Hill in its November financial statement.
In the largely white and conservative ranks of utility executives, the fact that Sheri Lynise Jackson is black caused at least as great a stir as the fact that she is 25 years old.
First-quarter results from the utility, due on Thursday, are expected to reflect the profits warning issued by Richard Giordano, chairman, at the annual general meeting last month.
It will write call options (giving other people the right to buy shares at a set price) against part of its utility holdings.