About Utility Magazine

Utility Magazine

Overview

Utility is an Australian trade magazine and online news service devoted entirely to the utility sector. Published in print and online from Melbourne, Victoria, it covers the industries that supply Australia's essential services — water and sewerage, gas, electricity, telecommunications and the National Broadband Network — for the executives, engineers and managers who run them. The magazine describes itself, in its own words, as "the title of choice for decision makers at all levels of water and energy utilities", read also by consulting engineers and first-tier contractors, and it bills itself as Australia's only dedicated utility magazine. That positioning has made it a fixture of the sector's media landscape: rather than treating utilities as one beat among many, Utility reports on the whole industry, from desalination plants and transmission projects to wastewater blockages, battery storage and the management of ageing infrastructure assets.

The title operates as an integrated print and digital brand. A quarterly print magazine carries features, interviews and project coverage, while the website publishes news daily and a free email newsletter delivers the week's top stories to subscribers each Thursday. Podcasts and industry events, including the Asset Management for Critical Infrastructure conference and the Utility Awards, round out the offering.

History

Utility was launched by Monkey Media, a Melbourne-based business-to-business publisher founded in 2012 and based in Collingwood, which specialised in niche industry sectors spanning utilities, water, energy, government, infrastructure and mining. The magazine was in circulation by 2014 and grew quickly in a period when many trade titles were contracting. Chris Bland, Monkey Media's managing director and the magazine's publisher, attributed that growth to a strategy of focusing on quality content and reaching the right readers rather than chasing volume.

Industry recognition followed. The Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) endorsed Utility as its official media partner for both 2015 and 2016, and the Geospatial Information and Technology Association of Australia and New Zealand (GITA) likewise endorsed the magazine as an official media partner, reflecting the growing importance of geographic information systems and data in utility asset management. In 2017 the magazine strengthened its editorial team, appointing Laura Harvey — a journalist with more than a decade's experience in the infrastructure and energy industries — as managing editor.

The most significant change in the title's history came with the sale of its publisher. In 2024, Prime Creative Media acquired Monkey Media together with all of its print, digital and events assets, a deal reported by Monkey Media's sister title Energy Magazine. Utility has continued publishing under its new owner, and in 2026 the brand extended into audio with the launch of the Utility Magazine Podcast, and into industry recognition with the inaugural Utility Awards, whose first finalists were announced in 2026.

Content and Coverage

Utility's coverage is organised around the sectors it serves. Dedicated channels cover water, wastewater, gas and electricity, alongside general news — including contracts awarded, open tenders and industry events — and longer-form features. A typical week of online coverage mixes major project milestones, such as desalination plant construction and new transmission approvals, with operational stories about sewer networks, water quality and flood recovery, policy and regulatory developments, executive appointments, and technology pieces on topics such as battery energy storage, electric vehicles and data centre water demand.

The print magazine leans toward analysis and perspective: thought-leading contributions from senior industry figures and independent experts examine major projects, policy settings, new technologies, equipment and processes, and the factors shaping Australian utilities' future. Asset management is a recurring theme, reflected in the brand's Asset Management for Critical Infrastructure event, which brings the utility and infrastructure industries together to discuss practical approaches to managing everything from water pipelines and electricity networks to railway lines. The Utility Podcast extends that brief into conversation, featuring the people, projects and ideas shaping the country's essential infrastructure.

The range of a single week's online output shows how the daily service complements the magazine. In October 2026 the site reported Hunter Water's completion of major marine construction works for the Belmont Desalination Plant, TasNetworks' green light for Tasmania's North West transmission project, Sydney Water's campaign against the more than 12,000 wastewater blockages it records each year, Origin's completion of the 300 MW Mortlake battery in Victoria, and the milestone at which electric vehicle sales overtook petrol car sales in Australia for the first time. Between such project and market news sit explainers and technical features — on pump seal efficiency, field machining and compressed air upgrades, for example — aimed at the engineers and operators who keep utility networks running.

Audience and Reach

Utility's readership is the professional utility community: decision makers within water and energy utilities, senior staff at gas and electricity networks, consulting engineers, first-tier contractors and the suppliers and service providers who sell into the sector. Because it is the sector's specialist title, its audience figures are best understood as targeted rather than mass reach. Figures published in media directory listings, drawn from the publisher's own material, put the magazine's print readership at 12,775 with a further 1,489 digital readers, the website attracting 48,976 users per quarter, and the weekly newsletter reaching 6,273 subscribers; these are publisher-supplied figures rather than independently audited results, and are reproduced here on that basis.

The title's endorsements by industry associations such as WIOA and GITA, and its events program, give it a presence in the sector beyond the page, placing it in front of utility professionals at conferences and industry gatherings across Australia.

Digital Presence

The magazine's digital home is utilitymagazine.com.au, which publishes news daily across its water, wastewater, gas, electricity, features and podcast channels, and was actively reporting industry news in October 2026, including coverage of new tenders, executive appointments and project completions. Readers can subscribe to the free weekly newsletter, delivered each Thursday, and access the print magazine through the site. The brand also maintains a presence on LinkedIn, where it promotes the magazine, its newsletter and its events, and its podcast distributes the title's interviews and discussions in audio form. Following the change of ownership, the website's content is published under Prime Creative Media copyright, and the site carries the standard Prime Creative Media layout shared by that publisher's other industry titles.

Ownership and Organisation

Utility is owned by Prime Creative Media, one of Australia's largest business-to-business publishers, following Prime Creative's 2024 acquisition of Monkey Media and all of its print, digital and events brands. Prime Creative Media is headquartered at Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, and was founded in 2000; over more than two decades it has acquired and launched dozens of mastheads across industries including manufacturing, infrastructure, resources, education, transport, hospitality and waste and resource recovery. Its chairman is John Murphy and its chief executive is Christine Clancy. Within the Prime Creative portfolio, Utility sits alongside other infrastructure and energy titles inherited from Monkey Media, including Energy Magazine, and forms part of the publisher's infrastructure and resources stable. The magazine's editorial operation works within Prime Creative Media's wider publishing structure of editors, journalists, designers and events staff.

Contact and Availability

Utility Magazine is published in Melbourne, Victoria, and is available in print by subscription, with subscription and advertising enquiries handled through its website at utilitymagazine.com.au. The website invites readers to read the current magazine, sign up for the free weekly newsletter, and contact the team via the site's contact page; tickets for its Asset Management for Critical Infrastructure event are sold through the event's own website. The magazine is published by Prime Creative Media, headquartered at Docklands, Melbourne, Victoria.