A private water utility is basically not owned by a government. They are owned by a private owner or private business. They operate the system to provide water but are also looking to make a profit. A great majority of organizations would not operate if at the end of collecting money they realize they have spent more than they have received. This is simply how most organizations need to operate to continue to provide services to residents.
Both private and public water utilities are essentially monopolies. Yes, that is probably something you may recall from economics back in high school. A private water utility is a monopoly. Unfortunately for a lot of us, we cannot pick who provides our water to us. We buy a house or rent it and are stuck with whatever water utility there is. You could move to another area to try to avoid the utility but other than that you have no say about who provides your water. For this reason, there are some who may really hate their private water utility, some that are okay with them, and others that like them. Again, there isn’t anything you could do to replace them because there isn’t any competition. At stores you could pick Arrowhead or Niagara based on your preference. That is not how it works for your water utility.
This leads to people thinking that they are basically stuck paying whatever rate the private water utility has. This is also partly true. There isn’t any competition and therefore are at the mercy of whatever rate the private water utility wants to charge. The good news is that most of them are regulated by the public utilities commission. Not all of them are but we will focus on the regulated ones. A public utilities commission is what ensures a private water utility doesn’t charge whatever they want. They are there to govern the rate they are trying to set. This doesn’t mean that a private water utility cannot charge more but it ensures that residents aren’t charged excessive amounts for using water. This is why if you have ever moved around, you will notice that your water bill is different in every location. The rate is set by the water utility in your area which could be less or more.
Private water utilities may also be in multiple locations. There are some that are in various states. In a lot of cases this may not be well known to some since they never go directly to their website. However, if you were to check them out you would notice that some have several subsidiaries. In fact, the largest utilities are often out there trying to buy both private utilities and public utilities. This goes back to they are in their business to make a profit. Better yet, they are trying to maximize profit.