A public service company (or public utility company) is a corporation or other non-governmental business entity (i.e. limited partnership) which delivers public services - certain services considered essential to the public interest. The ranks of such companies include public utility companies like natural gas, pipeline, electricity, and water supply companies, sewer companies, telephone companies and telegraph companies. They also include public services such as transportation of passengers or property as a common carrier, such as airlines, railroads, trucking, bus, and taxicab companies. Jump to: navigation, search A corporation is a legal entity (distinct from a natural person) that often has similar rights in law to those of a Civil law systems may refer to corporations as moral persons; they may also go by the name AS (anonymous society) or something similar, depending... A limited partnership is a partnership that is similar to a general partnership, except that in addition to there being one or more general partners, there are one or more limited partners. ... Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing private provision of services. ... Public interest is a term used to denote political movements and organizations that are in the public interest—supporting general public and civic causes, in opposition of private and corporate ones (particularistic goals). ... A public utility is a company that maintains the infrastructure for a public service. ... Natural gas (commonly refered to as gas in many countries, but note that this is also American and Canadian slang for gasoline) is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... Jump to: navigation, search Electricity is a general term applied to phenomena involving a fundamental property of matter called an electric charge. ... Jump to: navigation, search A telephone handset A touch-tone telephone dial Telephone Complex relay used in a telephone switching system. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ... A common carrier is an organization that transports a product or service using its facilities, or those of other carriers. ... The word airline can also have these meanings: see Airline (disambiguation). ... This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ... Jump to: navigation, search The driver of this DAF tractor with an auto-transport semi-trailer prepares to offload Skoda Octavia cars in Cardiff, Wales For further uses of the word truck, see Truck (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search A bus is a large wheeled vehicle intended to carry numerous persons in addition to the driver. ... Jump to: navigation, search A taxicab (sometimes called taxi, cab, or hack) is a vehicle for hire which conveys passengers between locations of their choice. ...

Public service (or utility) companies may operate under certificates of public convenience and necessity which may limit competition. Their services may be subject to rate control and other regulations which are not common to general businesses.

The concept of public service companies was that, in order to attract sufficient private investment capital and guarantee sufficient revenues to ensure appropriate operations and services, protection from ruinous competition and additional governmental oversight of rates and services were required to balance the needs of the owners of the business with those of the general public.

Under concepts of deregulation, many principles under which public service companies have long operated are negated and replaced by those of a competitive market. Jump to: navigation, search Deregulation is the process by which governments remove regulations on business in order to (in theory) encourage the efficient operation of markets. ... Jump to: navigation, search Competitive markets are markets where their are many players, buyers and sellers, and so no one player can determine the price of a product, water, oil , gas etc. ...

In the United States, at an interstate level, most airlines, railroad, and trucking and bus transportation services were deregulated in the last quarter of the 20th century. Many of the changes in the laws at the federal level had the effect of deregulation or substantially weakened similar state and local laws regarding the same services. A typical rural stretch of Interstate highway, with two lanes in each direction separated by a large grassy median, and with cross-traffic limited to overpasses and underpasses. ...

See also

• Airline Deregulation Act (1977)
• Staggers Act (1980)
• National Gas Policy Act (1980)
• Motor Carrier Act (1980)
• Bus Regulatory Reform Act (1982)
• Natural Gas Wellhead Decontrol Act (1989)
• National Energy Policy Act (1992)
• Telecommunications_Act_of_1996

Jump to: navigation, search President Jimmy Carter signs the Airline Deregulation Act. ... The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 deregulated the railroad industry to a significant extent, replacing the regulatory structure that existed since the 1887 Interstate Commerce Act. ... The American Motor Carrier Act of 1935 amended the Interstate Commerce Act to regulate bus lines and airlines as utilities. ... The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications policy in nearly 62 years, modifying earlier legislation, primarily the Communications Act of 1934. ...

References

• Code of Virginia, Title 56.1 Public Service Companies