How a regulatory system works in practice

The term utility is widely used today to include those public services which supply water, sewerage, electricity, gas, telecommunications and waste disposal. All of us use these utilities every day – when we have a bath or a drink of water, light a gas fire, boil water for a cup of tea or coffee or turn on the light. Until the 1980s, most of these utilities were owned and run as part of the public sector of the economy. In other words, they were run…