[gentooflux]

Why is it "people are willing to pay" and not "corporations are brazen enough to charge"? These utilities are necessities and relatively few people have access to cheaper alternatives to them.

[beejiu]

The regulations mandate that the market operates that way. It's the government that should be held to account.

[vovavili]

Because, under usual circumstances, self-interested corporations compete against each other to get as close to what people are willing to pay for energy as possible.

[cap11235]

> compete against each other

Citation needed.

[vovavili]

https://lmgt.org/?q=econ+101

[tzs]

There’s a reason most universities don’t hand you a bachelors degree in economics as soon as you complete EC101. You should look into EC102 and the rest of the curriculum.

[bronson]

Because PG&E is a for-profit company. They are supposed to charge what the market will bear.

[bcrosby95]

Unfortunately since PG&E is a regulated utility it's not that simple.

[bronson]

When you compare PG&E's electricity rates to the rest of the nation (and neighbors like SMUD), you can see that the CPUC isn't doing much.