I grew up in Norway. As a grid customer I could shop around for the best power company that fit my situation (e.g. solar? Apartment?). Norway is covered in snow 8-9 months of the year. I think what you're describing is a problem with money not reaching infrastructure investment locally for whatever reason: not public owned infrastructure issues in general.
bshep|5 years ago
In the 50s or so the infrastructure was created, including power plants etc, it was a profitable venture for the government, so they borrowed against the profits of the energy company, then failed upgrade/update any infrastructure. Add to to that the retirement pensions of all the people which they did not fund and it creates a big problem.
So now as it stands the energy company is in debt ( technically the government owes the energy company money but the government is insolvent ) and they are trying to sell it to a private entity.
Also if you are wondering why anyone would want to get a private pension plan instead of a 401k, well you werent allowed to put your money in a 401k ( same thing happened to the teachers by the way ). It actually very sadto hear the stories of people that worked theur whole life and have nothing to show for it due to the greed of politicians.
kgwgk|5 years ago
> in Norway (...) I could shop around for the best power company
piva00|5 years ago
It's the same for the grid in Sweden (Svenska kraftnät), also how optic fiber is deployed here in Stockholm, the costly infrastructure was developed and is maintained by the government, private ISPs can lease out capacity but aren't the ones maintaining it. That avoided the costly deployment of multiple similar infrastructure per provider like you see in the US, where corporations cornered some markets and made the barrier of entry so costly that they became de facto monopolies.
torwayburger|5 years ago