The ability of high utilities...

With it being the beginning of the month, at our house that means bill time. The bills consist of cable/internet, electric, gas, and water. The cable is always the same, the electric, although fluctuates, never gets very high, the gas was expected to be high in the winter months, which brings us to the water bill. It made me start to question why, like all of the other utilities, was there only a few major companies controlling the industry and prices. What would it take to jump into the water industry as a new company and succeed?
After doing research, there are four American companies that have the majority of control in the production of water meters. Most people purchasing the meters are the water companies which have to measure the water output so they can charge people what they owe. The meters are installed in either commercial or residential areas so that the water consumers can be billed correctly. Since every established place must have a meter, deman grows slowly, but stays consistant. This is because utility companies tend to have long relationships with the suppliers, and will rarely change. Another barrier to entry is caused by economies of scale. In order for a new company to succeed in an already upscale industry the company would have to invest in a large portion in order to gain some control and decision making ability along with increasing competition. The major companies do not really compete with each other, but instead cooperate with each other on setting prices that will generate a much higher profit for each. The companies are facing a prisoners dilemma, because if they compete with each other, prices would decrease due to companies trying to gain control over the market. This would decrease prices to a very competive level.
I'm tired of knowing that if there was more competition in the utility industry, we would be paying much less, which would increase our ability to have more money. Although it would be hard to establish a strong market share, the industry can be changed quite easily. Does anyone disagree that it would be nice to have a little extra coin in their pockets because utility prices would be lower? I wouldn't think so...