Also known as: public utility · public-utility · public service companies
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An entity that supplies essential services such as electricity, natural gas, water, or telecommunications to the public under regulatory oversight. The fact that a person is entitled to use the facilities of such an entity is a factor indicating that harm from a known or obvious danger on the premises should be anticipated by the possessor.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Paula Pierce enters a landowner's property to reach a public utility meter as she is entitled to do. The path contains an obvious hazard. Because Paula is using facilities of a public utility, the possessor must anticipate the harm despite the obviousness and faces potential liability.
Pulse Media, a public utility, seeks to promote energy conservation through targeted mailings. State regulators bar the messages. The utility challenges the ban as an unconstitutional restriction on commercial speech protected by the First Amendment.
Phoenix Technologies plans a new nuclear facility. State energy regulators impose certification requirements that conflict with federal standards. The company sues, claiming federal law preempts the state rules under the Supremacy Clause.
Preston Pratt challenges a city zoning ordinance that limits household occupancy and indirectly affects utility connections. The ordinance is reviewed for substantive due process violations because it burdens family living arrangements served by public utilities.
Prism Analytics compiles a directory using listings from a rural telephone utility. The utility claims copyright infringement. The compilation is held uncopyrightable because the utility's factual listings lack the requisite originality.
Patricia Patel receives contraceptive advice distributed by a public utility. State law bans such communications. The Court recognizes a right of privacy that protects the communications from undue state interference.
A public utility charged with a duty of public service may not exempt itself from liability for negligent breach of that duty to the person served. The rule is subject to mitigation only by a fairly bargained agreement to limit liability to a reasonable agreed value in return for a lower rate.
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A patron of a public utility is privileged, at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, to be upon any part of the land in the possession of the utility that is provided for the use of the public or necessary for their enjoyment of its facilities.
…over these penumbral rights of "privacy and repose." See, e. g. , Breard v. Alexandria , 341 U. S. 622, 626, 644; Public Utilities Comm'n v. Pollak , 343 U. S. 451; Monroe v. Pape , 365 U. S. 167; Lanza v. New York , 370 U. S. 139; Frank v. Maryland , 359 U. S. 360; Skinner v. Oklahoma , 316 U. S. 535, 541. These…
…to resolve the matter on nonconstitutional grounds. See Christian v. New York Dept. of Labor , 414 U. S. 614 (1974); Public Utilities Comm'n of California v. United States , 355 U. S. 534, 539-540 (1958); Allen v. Grand Central Aircraft Co. , 347 U. S. 535, 553 (1954); Aircraft & Diesel Equipment Corp. v. Hirsch , 331…
…has placed in the hands of a select few.[^maj-44] Surely, our political "system cannot flourish if regimentation takes hold." Public Utilities
…the type of issues the intervenors were trying to raise. There is little doubt that under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, state
…Haslem's transfer prices. [^maj-15]: The Securities Act of 1933, 48 Stat. 74, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 77a et seq. ; the
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A common carrier or other public utility is subject to liability to patrons utilizing its facilities for gross insults which reasonably offend them, inflicted by the utility's servants while otherwise acting within the scope of their employment.
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The Eleventh Amendment bars retroactive monetary relief against a state but permits prospective injunctive relief ordering a state officer to conform future conduct to federal law even if that order requires the state to spend money going forward.
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Congress may not commandeer state agencies by requiring them to adopt and enforce federal regulatory schemes. Such direct orders to state regulators violate the reserved powers of the states under the Tenth Amendment.
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