If you have lots of small companies that do not compete with each other, for whatever reason, we are still talking about monopolies.

If utilities are operated not for profit but as a form of charity, pricing of their services should be determined by how much they need to charge in order to stay in business (as low as possible). -> that makes arguing over pricing based on value irrelevant.

Well, all but the 'charity' part. My cooperative is benefitting ourselves. Is that 'charity'?

Anyway, agreed.

I don't mean "charity" in a demeaning way. If you operate a business, and a business is really anything that engages in trade but is not a real person, and that businesses purpose is not solely the optimization of profits, then it is, at least in part, a "charity".

There's nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying that a monopoly that is not maximising its profits acts in a charitable way. Either by choice or by force. Kinda irrelevant.