That is correct. What makes utilities wildly different from e.g. hamburgers is the extent to which legal fictions must necessarily remove skin-in-the-game type

That is correct. What makes utilities wildly different from e.g. hamburgers is the extent to which legal fictions must necessarily remove skin-in-the-game type problems that are glossed over. (e.g. what if I didn't WANT this wire in my land or over my house, my property?) Thus why, generally, you want to lean toward public.