The United States (U.S.) utilities are increasingly being deployed in convergent information-technology and operational-technology settings putting vital energy and water systems at risk due to advanced cyber-attacks. Federal and state regulators have added to compliance mechanisms over the past decade, most notably the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) standards, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cybersecurity guidelines, and the Cross-Sector Performance Goals by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). However, as cases of inadequate adherence continue to emerge, formal compliance cannot be a very reliable approach to creating resilient organizations. This policy-oriented literature review on the identification of the differences between public utilities and private utilities in terms of translating regulation compliance to a sustained culture of cyber readiness was integrative in nature. The study synthesizes the evidence on governance structures, workforce, and leaders’ accountability in different sectors based on peer-reviewed and policy resources. The results suggest that on the one hand, the public utilities tend to focus on the required controls and reporting, whereas on the other hand, the private utilities tend to be more adaptive and risk-driven with the support of the learning cultures based on the leadership. One of the most important findings of the review is the cross-sector analysis between compliance maturity and cultural transformation providing practical advice to regulators and utility executives to achieve the balance between oversight and innovation. At the end of the paper, recommendations are provided on how to incorporate culture metrics in the national policy frameworks on cybersecurity in the utility sector.