Most utilities weren't created by the government. My local power company came from a series of merges of companies founded in the eighteen-hundreds. The govern

Most utilities weren't created by the government. My local power company came from a series of merges of companies founded in the eighteen-hundreds. The government, at some point, decided to regulate utilities. It certainly didn't create them or their monopolies. Most have a natural monopoly (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly). It was a good idea, at the time, and it's just helpful to update our list of what constitutes a utility.