Is there any way out of this "shareholder value" hell? The moment a company goes public they're legally required to make stupid, short-term decisions that are worse for everyone, even the shareholders? (unless those shareholders know _when_ to sell their shares)

If you can share the tickers of these "vast profits to shareholders" utilities, I'd be delighted.

As far as I can tell utility companies are pretty bad at "vast profits to shareholders".

Are there many examples of true private ownership? The power utility in my area is investor owned but publicly regulated. They cannot raise rates without approval from a public commission, and I assume are limited in other decisions as well.

Not only do they have a profit motive, they have a 'Guaranteed Rate of Return'; All this at the citizen's expense.

The only real proofing of the grid is distributed generation and neighborhood microgrids. Centralized generation with distant distribution is subject to single point failure with widespread impact.

Yeah, they should be like those nonprofit hospitals.....

Which is to say if the solution was that simple and the fruit that low hanging it'd be done already.

At the end of the day whether profit or not the problem is that there's no consequences for sucking and no reward for not sucking. Government agencies tend toward fiefdom expansion, amassing power and graft. For profit entities tend to try and create situations where they can extract rents on the flimsiest of pretexts. They both seem to suck for energy though perhaps government sucks a tiny bit less. Neither "solves" the problem because neither seems inclined to steadily march toward cheaper/better/faster/whatever-er energy. They both seem to try and increase the suck if left to their own devices.

I guess it depends how you fund the system then. If there are not 'profits', how would additional infrastructure and upkeep be done, without just raising rates higher to pay for it? And who would loan them the money? The government? Oh, so back to taxpayers.