So these companies are not really in the energy business, they are more into the financial business and we fund it.
'Business', by definition, is to make MONEY.
Capitalists objective, by definition, is to aquire or control ALL capitol (money).
Controlling money means cutting corners, wages, getting everything done as cheaply as possible while charging the highest prices they can get, increasing profits that consolidate at the top.
Someone mentioned the TVA.
The TVA started as a government funded jobs program to pull the U.S. out of the Great depression/dust bowl, AND create low cost, non-polluting energy grid at the same time.
When people talk about the "Great Depression" /stock market crash of 1929/1930 they don't realize it was Capitalist Speculation that caused the entire thing, Capitalist law makers took all breaks off, removed all checks & balances, and Capitalists drove the bus right off a cliff...
That WAS recoverable, like every capitalist blunder, the citizens would SOCALIZE the losses, pick the economy back up by the bootstraps and continue on...
Except... being an agrarian based economy, the Dust Bowl happened on top of the market crash. This crippled middle America, average Joe & Jane's ability to pay for the mistakes of capitalist speculation as it had in previous crashes/depressions.
Then came WWII.
The TVA power was essential to building the nuclear weapons program, along with steel production for conventional weapons, and the propellants/explosives.
After WWII the TVA returned to mostly civilian use, but was still critical in national defense/strategic defense programs.
People crap on the TVA as a government money dump, but 1/4 of ALL energy used in the U.S. is for military/defense, so it's still VERY essential in that environment.
You really can't have a bunch of greedy, private energy company screwing with national defense everywhere, letting the power grids decline/fail, running them on a shoestring with no spare parts, obsolete equipment, etc.
I mean the second largest wide open to attack national defense grid is the power grid computer controls, we have known about this since the 90s, and the grid owners refuse to secure the computers and computer controlled equipment because it will cost "Millions" to the largest & most profitable businesses in the history of mankind...
All the while these big energy companies are getting billions in tax payer funded abatments, tax credits, grants, etc.
There is a reason the Department Of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Military have an objective to go renewable energy and local power grids, it's sustainable and it's WAY more secure.
If you don't remember, one idiot flipping switches in the wrong order blacked out most of the east coast and parts of Canada not too many years ago...
Failure to add $100 heaters to gas regulators blacked out most of the Texas power grid a couple years back for over a week...
You can cheer on 'Capitalism' all you want, but there needs to be some common sense and some limits how cheap they are allowed to get in the name of share holder profit margins...