What are other ways to refer to water suppliers?

I am not native english speaker and I'm currently writing my PhD thesis on economics. The research question is whether water suppliers are minimizing their costs. However, my problem is that I seem to repeat the phrase "water suppliers" too much, and I'd like to introduce some variation.

So far, I've been using these names:

• Water utility companies
• Water suppliers
• Water utilities
• Water companies

I'm not entirely sure that all of them are correct. What other names would you recommmend me to use?

Also, I often use the words "firm", "enterprises", and "company" once it is clear they're water suppliers. Are these terms correct in the context of water suppliers? Take this phrase, for instance: "the prices faced by this firm are smaller than the rest of the companies." It feels a bit awkward for me to say that phrase when talking about water suppliers.

I am still on an early stage of the writing, so I can change the style completely if needed. Thanks in advance for your responses.

Solution 1:

"Organization" is a useful word to describe an entity such as a water supplier that does not carry the additional meanings associated with 'company', 'firm' etc

"the prices faced by this firm are smaller than the rest of the companies" is better phrased as "this [firm/organization] faced lower prices than the other [companies]"

"smaller" is not correct in this context, you should use lower.

Better (if the meaning is correct) is "this [firm] faced lower prices than its competitors"

or simply

"this [firm/organization] faced lower prices than others"

Finally, 'face' implies challenge, whereas in this context, if I understand what you are trying to convey, it would be better to use "benefitted from", enjoyed or something similar.

"this [firm/organization] benefitted from lower prices than others"

Solution 2:

For a PhD thesis I would think precision is more important than style. There are subtle but meaningful differences between the terms you listed. A "supplier" is simply any entity that supplies something. A "company" implies (I think) some sort of incorporated legal entity, usually a profit-making commercial entity. A "utility" is another type of legal entity. (At least that's my understanding; I'm not an economist or lawyer.) So my answer would be: use exactly the term you need to use in order to be technically accurate. If you mean to refer any kind of entity that supplies water, regardless of whether it's a public utility or a profit-making corporation, then call it a "water supplier." If you keep using the term over and over again in your thesis, so what? It's a technical paper, not a novel or a newspaper article. (That's my 2 cents worth, anyway.)

Solution 3:

My husband is a water resources engineer- and when he writes for the public (such a county commission or public citizen group) he sticks to the most usual term and doesn't worry about repetition, indeed in those cases, repetition is preferred. But, in an academic setting, with the assumption that all terms are equivalent- I think it is fine and likely preferred to vary somewhat.