I'm all for the competitive Free Market where this works ... any moderately sized community can support 8 gas stations, 4 grocery stores, 20 restaurants ... absolutely let them fight over customers, the customer wins, either with lower prices or a better product, let the customer decide ...
But we do need to be honest with ourselves when competitive Free Market doesn't work ... and retail electric distribution is the perfect example ... do we want 3 companies competing for our business, three sets of utility poles, three sets of overhead wires, three sets of transformers scattered though our neighborhoods, three drops to your home? ... most of us grant monopoly power over the system to a single company and regulate the hell out of them ... but some do establish this distribution as a government agency, where the board members are subject to the voters ...
Do you think health care is a competitive Free Market? ... call around to your local hospitals and get a price on a basic ankle X-ray ... [giggle] ... come back and tell us what you find out ...