Four real utilities are on the table. Duke Energy. Pedernales Electric Cooperative. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Bonneville Power Administration. Before reading another line, sort each one into a bucket: owned by shareholders, owned by its customers, owned by a city, or owned by the federal government. Most people get one or two right by the name alone and guess on the rest. The reliable way is not the name. It is to ask who the utility answers to.
There are four ownership types in the US, and that one question separates them. An investor-owned utility (IOU) is owned by shareholders and is allowed to earn a profit, with a state regulator capping how much. Duke Energy is an IOU. A cooperative is not-for-profit and owned by its members, the customers it serves, who elect the board that runs it. Pedernales Electric Cooperative is a co-op. A municipal utility is owned by the local government, the city or town. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, LADWP, is a muni. The fourth type is federal: a Power Marketing Administration (PMA) is part of the federal government and sells power from federal dams. Bonneville Power Administration, BPA, is a PMA.
So the four sort cleanly. Duke answers to shareholders, so it is an IOU. Pedernales answers to its member-customers through their elected board, so it is a co-op. LADWP answers to the city of Los Angeles, so it is a muni. BPA answers to the federal government, so it is a PMA. The owner is whoever the utility answers to, and that single fact is what tells the four types apart.
Knowing the type matters before you ever talk price or spec. An IOU buys through a rate-regulated process and watches its return. A co-op and a muni are not-for-profit and answer to local members or local government, so their priorities and their buying rules look different. A PMA is a federal seller, not a local distributor at all. Same grid, four very different owners.