Largest US power grid PJM escalates emergency actions to avoid blackouts

[live love laugh]

37. What needs replacing is private equity monopolizing utilities

Private equity (PE) firms are aggressively acquiring regulated public utilities, a trend heavily driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) data center boom and the stable, guaranteed rates of return these essential services offer. When a PE firm takes a utility private, it introduces an aggressive, profit-maximizing corporate structure to a captive customer base.

The standard PE timeline relies on holding an asset for a few years while cutting operational overhead to maximize short-term cash flow, then flipping it for a profit. This can lead to severe underinvestment in long-term safety, maintenance, and upkeep, increasing the risk of infrastructure failures.

When a PE firm takes a utility private, it introduces an aggressive, profit-maximizing corporate structure to a captive customer base. PE firms frequently fund acquisitions by saddling the target utility company with immense amounts of debt. Captive ratepayers end up with the bill, paying higher rates just to service the Wall Street debt used to buy the utility in the first place.