As used in sections 25-32, 25-33 and 25-34, “consumer” means any private dwelling, hotel, motel, boardinghouse, apartment, store, office building, institution, mechanical or manufacturing establishment or other place of business or industry to which water is supplied by a water company; “water company” means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, municipality or other entity, or the lessee thereof, who or which owns, maintains, operates, manages, controls or employs any pond, lake, reservoir, well, stream or distributing plant or system that supplies water to two or more consumers or to twenty-five or more persons on a regular basis provided if any individual, partnership, association, corporation, municipality or other entity or lessee owns or controls eighty per cent of the equity value of more than one such system or company, the number of consumers or persons supplied by all such systems so controlled shall be considered as owned by one company for the purposes of this definition.