An investor-owned utility or IOU is a business organization, providing a product or service regarded as a utility (often termed a public utility

Public utility

A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service . Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies...

 regardless of ownership), and managed as private enterprise rather than a function of government or a utility cooperative

Utility cooperative

A utility cooperative is a type of cooperative that is tasked with the delivery of a public utility such as electricity, water or telecommunications to its members...

. Such businesses can range from a family whose residential property includes a well whose flow in excess of the family's own needs produces a secondary income, to international communications conglomerates, but political and infrastructure considerations in some countries makes the private sector of the electric-power production and distribution

Electric utility

An electric utility is a company that engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major provider of energy in most countries. It is indispensable to factories, commercial establishments,...

industry the most often discussed investor-owned utilities there.