There's no "Unless" there. If the government regulates it as a utility, the government has become the de-facto owner of that pipe who can screw you in whichever

There's no "Unless" there. If the government regulates it as a utility, the government has become the de-facto owner of that pipe who can screw you in whichever way they see fit. The fact that government typically noticeably screws you in different ways than businesses (Spying on your flows, playing morality police) than businesses (mostly extracting cash and providing low quality of service) is almost artifact (because both government and business do all of those things and more).