Re:Why privatisation has been a costly failure in Britain
by pydry on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @06:31AM
(#36678977)
Opening markets != privatization. There's absolutely nothing wrong with breaking a state monopoly if that's possible, but that's not privatization.
Pretending that these two things that are very different are equivalent is half of how we got into this mess, in fact.
Whilst participants in the utilites market will often complain that it's "not fair" that they have to compete with a state actor, they're often the best way of exerting market discipline on them.
This is particularly true in utilities space where private actors unhindered by state competition try to bamboozle their customers into giving them fat profit margins with stupidly complex billing. State run companies that provide a bare bones low profit service that is what most people actually want inhibit this kind of market abuse.
Pretending that these two things that are very different are equivalent is half of how we got into this mess, in fact.
Whilst participants in the utilites market will often complain that it's "not fair" that they have to compete with a state actor, they're often the best way of exerting market discipline on them.
This is particularly true in utilities space where private actors unhindered by state competition try to bamboozle their customers into giving them fat profit margins with stupidly complex billing. State run companies that provide a bare bones low profit service that is what most people actually want inhibit this kind of market abuse.