A specific area of a market place where a service can be provided at better quality and more cheaply by one company than by a number of competitive companies. In the energy sector electricity grids and natural gas transmission systems are usually natural monopolies. According to economic theory, a natural monopoly is just as bad for marketplace competition as a true monopoly, since a company with natural monopoly characteristics is eventually likely to take on all the characteristics of a true monopoly. The electricity transmission grid in Israel and the natural gas transmission system are both natural monopolies