Should electric and gas utility companies be allowed to operate as "monopolies?"?

Question

In America we preach the principles of freedom of choice, free enterprise, the power of the individual, and democracy. Yet, when it comes to chosing an electric or gas utility, most Americans only have one choice, dealing with a "monopoly" utility provider. Is this acceptable in today's world? Most energy providers do not allow the customer to pick whether they want "dirty" energy, "clean" energy, or any other options. We have to accept what they want to provide to us. Is this fair business practice for the 21st century?

Answer 1

No its is unbelievable the power and control the have and abuse constantly. Added to the fact that they know you need them and they don't really need you. But you are forced to take them. Imagine if they had competition. OMG they might clean up thier act and provided clean energy at fair prices. Also they might even consider serving customers first.

Answer 2

The idea behind public regulation of utility companies is based on the investment in the infrastructure required to support distribution.

What this means is that to get people to invest, "areas" had to guarantee a return on the investment by signing an "exclusive" contract.

Currently many utilities are required to "share" infrastructure. One company owns and maintains the infrastructure, but, another company is selling you services on that infrastructure.

The problem occurs when the company owning the infrastructure cannot maintain it well enough because they are not receiving enough money for renting space on their infrastructure. This causes service outages and complaints, pricing issues, etc. People do not want to invest where they cannot make enough return so the infrastructure deteriorates.

You can research the Roman Aqueducts, how they enabled Romans to live in Roman and what happened when they could not be maintained to develop a better understanding of how the civil infrastructure developed.

"He who controls the water, controls all" This is why water distribution is government controlled and why as utility companies make people more and more dependent on utilities they have more and more control.

The problem with running utilities with a "government" is that democratic governments are based on the charisma of their leaders and not their management skills. As a result most government entities are generally mis-managed. Privatizing reduces costs and improves services, but, gives up control.

Your questions really are:

1: Which is more important, control of or management of resources?

2: How do we increase competition among necessary utilities while maintaining the ability to receive enough of a return on the investment to maintain the infrastructure.

Answer 3

NO it's horrible the monopoly they have going.