Realistically consumer still pay for the utility as the marginal pricing must provide revenues sufficient and in excess of capital and operating costs, and a sufficient risk premium to investors. If consumers don’t like it, they won’t get the services. There’s an argument that a market model is more efficient, but there’s an equally plausible argument that utility models provide more stable pricing - and that end users of utility services prefer stability over efficiency. Thanks for the info though I wasn’t aware Europe was structured this way, but it does explain why costs have been so volatile.