I think it is interesting to compare PG&E to how the electricity grid is owned and run in the UK. Many people here are saying they should be nationalised, well the UK did the opposite 30 years ago and it seems to be working fine.
In the UK there is National Grid Electricity Transmission plc, which as the name suggests is responsible for the transmission infrastructure across the country. They are a publicly traded company, and the parent company owns electricity & gas distribution in the UK, and some in the US. There are then smaller companies who are responsible for maintaining more local infrastructure (as I understand it's still owned by National Grid, but they are responsible for fixing and upgrading it).
As a consumer you can choose to buy electricity from a long list of companies, and easily switch between them. All that happens is a different company collects your meter reading and they send you a bill. A lot of these companies also own generation facilities (e.g. SSE, who are also publically traded) while some are just resellers (e.g. So Energy).
I'm in NY, and the gas & electric company is National Grid, and they do give you the option of choosing a supplier.
I've always thought that there must be hidden pitfalls of selecting a different supplier, since National Grid would have the ability and incentive to tilt the playing field.
There are plenty of states where that's basically the system that are a mess, if not as bad as in California. The devil is in the details of how the post-privitization market is regulated.
In the UK there is National Grid Electricity Transmission plc, which as the name suggests is responsible for the transmission infrastructure across the country. They are a publicly traded company, and the parent company owns electricity & gas distribution in the UK, and some in the US. There are then smaller companies who are responsible for maintaining more local infrastructure (as I understand it's still owned by National Grid, but they are responsible for fixing and upgrading it).
As a consumer you can choose to buy electricity from a long list of companies, and easily switch between them. All that happens is a different company collects your meter reading and they send you a bill. A lot of these companies also own generation facilities (e.g. SSE, who are also publically traded) while some are just resellers (e.g. So Energy).