What is the Islamic legal ruling on privatizing public sector services, and does the electricity sector fall under the noble Prophetic saying: "People are partners in three: water, pasture, and fire"?

If an electricity or water company provides these resources to people and extracts them for them, then it owns them, and it is permissible for it to sell them to people. This does not contradict the Hadith, as the Hadith is interpreted to refer to public water, such as that in a river. As for water held in someone's possession, it belongs to its owner, who may gift or sell it. The same applies to firewood growing on land that has no owner.