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by text0404 660 days ago
> The problem is the needless and protectionist laws and regulations. If you want to see the effectiveness of monopoly regulation, look at California's PG&E vs Texas' deregulated electricity provider market. Californians are paying outrageous bills, meanwhile Texans have their choice of paying different electricity providers, and thus have much lower electric rates.

They really don't:

- https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/23/texas-electricity-bi...

- https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/22/texas-pauses-electri...

... and have we already forgot that 250+ people died and 3/4 of the state was left without power during a winter storm? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis

Even _if_ Texans were paying less on their monthly bills, does that matter if ERCOT's negligence ends up getting people killed and causing massive power outages during times when its needed most critically?