Our purpose is to study local utilities under an “institutional” perspective, by investigating public governances and the relationship existing between these and regulatory effectiveness. As well known, several regulatory agencies are involved at different tiers of governance (EU, national, regional, local), pursuing different objectives (economic efficiency, equitable tariffs, environmental sustainability, short-run private interests, etc.), making use of different tools (price mechanisms, quality parameters, subsidies, etc.), operating at different stages of the regulatory process (design, implementation and enforcement), and continuously interacting (actively and passively) among themselves. It is not to say that such a complex public governance structure might affect regulatory effectiveness and, hence, sector performance. Why do we observe different public governance behind water management? What are the determinants of such different patterns? What are the implications for regulatory effectiveness and sector performance that such differences produce? In our view, it is the overall coordination and coherence among goals, tools, agencies and phases of the regulatory frame/process that contributes to determine utility performance, and does it in a more penetrating manner than legislative and policy measures designed at EU level.