this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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Of course. Privatization of public utilities, particularly energy generation and distribution systems, is simply a transfer of common wealth to private. Fleecing people who don't understand the arcane pricing structures of "the market" they pretend is operating is just another revenue opportunity.
Privatisation can only work if there's true deregulation. This just isn't feasible for utilities as there's only one distribution system (and it would be stupid to have more) and the barrier to entry for wholesale is too much to truly allow competition.
Full deregulation implies that speculators are free to create trading options. In most cases the major interests are capable of manipulating the traded commodity price via their control of supply. Also, as you point out, barriers to entry of utilities create a walled garden that shouldn't be handed over to an entity whose mission is to create profit and enrich its owners. Deregulation implies rolling back regulations often created in response to the excesses of an unregulated market.
Maybe we’re working under different assumptions but I can’t see how a private company with no regulation would do anything other than continue to try and maximise profits at the cost of everything and everyone around them.
I mean there was true deregulation in the first place. So many things went wrong that they had to start regulating things.