Just when I was really starting to like her, AOC had to come out and say,

[FBaggins]

158. Your belief is incorrect

There is no clear consensus re: public vs. private ownership of utilities. Public can be cheaper because government can choose to divert public dollars to lower prices, but then the public is still paying the price (just through taxes rather than their utility bill).

Here’s a World Bank paper on the subject

https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/private-versus-public-electricity-distribution-utilities-are-outcomes-different-end-users

Then an interesting take on water utilities in particular - that makes an interesting point that they can be cheaper... but not better... because public utilities are more likely to charge less but fail to deliver on drinking water standards. Which makes the Flint example relevant again.

https://www.citylab.com/life/2015/07/the-privatization-of-public-utilities-has-one-major-upside/398828/