OK if it isn’t profitable the state owned company would take tax money to compensate - so in the end it is still paid by the citizens (but more evently distributed) … What’s the root cause for building the power plant is in the end not that important I think …
I agree that the overhead is a possible non-issue.
State owned company would be a monopoly from day one ( but controlled). But the risk stays that something happens with it and then there is no possibility available on short notice (because it may be impossible/illegal to even start a private power plant …
Monopoly building is a problem - but if the price is artificially driven high there should nonetheless come new players on the market (if that is not possible, we don’t have a free market and should change something (antitrust laws,…) - of course the transmission lines are a “natural monopoly” and therefore a (hopefully) trustworthy state owned company is the right thing here (for a free market, there have to be multiple parallel transmission lines which would be ridiculous).
For your telecom example: I visited the website of SaksTel and don’t really understand their plans but do I see correctly that they are charging 70CAD (~50€) for 15gb (and unlimited calls/texts) SIM only? I am from Austria and don’t know what the average for the US is but we had this prices like 20years ago … I am paying ~15€ for 17gb LTE (10GB for whole EU, including tax of 20%)… And this is an old and not quite cheap plan … I cannot compare the quality, but if you are not in a very remote area, a speed of at least 50mbit is normal … (Privately owned telecom company) – what are you paying for mobile data in the US?
Again, there is far less risk with a state monopoly than a private one. State is accountable to the people at least to some extent, while a private enterprise is fundamentally not. Given that markets favor monopolies, and especially in sectors where large investments are necessary there is no argument to be made regarding a private competitive market as being a viable alternative.
And of course, you have to compare SaskTel to prices in Canada as opposed to Austria. If you look at a map then you’ll see that Saskatchewan has an area of 651,900 km² compared to 83,871 km² of Austria. Saskatchewan is also far less densely populated. This means the cost of infrastructure is much higher.
You can look at overall pricing differences between countries here. Both US and Canada have terrible pricing.
OK if it isn’t profitable the state owned company would take tax money to compensate - so in the end it is still paid by the citizens (but more evently distributed) … What’s the root cause for building the power plant is in the end not that important I think … I agree that the overhead is a possible non-issue. State owned company would be a monopoly from day one ( but controlled). But the risk stays that something happens with it and then there is no possibility available on short notice (because it may be impossible/illegal to even start a private power plant … Monopoly building is a problem - but if the price is artificially driven high there should nonetheless come new players on the market (if that is not possible, we don’t have a free market and should change something (antitrust laws,…) - of course the transmission lines are a “natural monopoly” and therefore a (hopefully) trustworthy state owned company is the right thing here (for a free market, there have to be multiple parallel transmission lines which would be ridiculous).
For your telecom example: I visited the website of SaksTel and don’t really understand their plans but do I see correctly that they are charging 70CAD (~50€) for 15gb (and unlimited calls/texts) SIM only? I am from Austria and don’t know what the average for the US is but we had this prices like 20years ago … I am paying ~15€ for 17gb LTE (10GB for whole EU, including tax of 20%)… And this is an old and not quite cheap plan … I cannot compare the quality, but if you are not in a very remote area, a speed of at least 50mbit is normal … (Privately owned telecom company) – what are you paying for mobile data in the US?
Again, there is far less risk with a state monopoly than a private one. State is accountable to the people at least to some extent, while a private enterprise is fundamentally not. Given that markets favor monopolies, and especially in sectors where large investments are necessary there is no argument to be made regarding a private competitive market as being a viable alternative.
And of course, you have to compare SaskTel to prices in Canada as opposed to Austria. If you look at a map then you’ll see that Saskatchewan has an area of 651,900 km² compared to 83,871 km² of Austria. Saskatchewan is also far less densely populated. This means the cost of infrastructure is much higher.
You can look at overall pricing differences between countries here. Both US and Canada have terrible pricing.