Mind’s definitely a little foggy on this, but didn’t California deregulate the power companies back in the glory days of Republican rule in the 90s? Seem to remember that’s how Enron was able to scam them. And, being the good ol’ USA*, I don’t think there have been serious re-application of regulations to completely hinder PG&E from protecting capital returns over reliability and safety.

*Once we make a colossal blunder, we like to go through a very long period of recovery:
Step 1) Deny anything bad or untold happened (a good 30% never move beyond this step);
2) admit something bad happened, but no one could have prevented it;
3) Admit it was preventable, but at too high a cost;
4) Admit that it was both avoidable and the mitigation was affordable, but no one could have predicted it would actually occur;
5) Concede that some did predict the exact occurrence, but they are such loons, no one ever takes them seriously;
6) Aver the need to move on and avoid placing blame while doing nothing to protect against the next disaster;
7) Make a few minor adjustments at the margin and scream SOCIALISM if anyone should be stupid enough to propose a comprehensive, intelligent, sustainable and just solution. **

**With my apologies to Sir Humphrey.

How eager they are to be slaves - Tiberius Caesar

Coulda tripped out easy, but I've changed my ways - Donovan