Asklemmy

Governments can also be sued

My point is they don't lose hard earned money, they just pay you money they collect forcefully from people. Basically it's not a deterrent, but simple restitution

As far as government accountability, that’s what elections are for.

It's quite rare for any candidate to talk about utilities in their campaign at all.

People here tend to not associate govt owned corporations with the government itself. And when someone brings it up, they just make some kind of excuse about what terrible person you are for accusing such a benevolent government of incompetence when they don't fix their stuff, and increase price 2

And besides, chances of reelection are so slim I doubt any politician actually going for it. It's much more profitable to simply lie about your promises

But utilities really can’t go out of business

They should declare bankruptcy and be sold to someone

loss of those services would be catastrophic

Government failed to consistently provide power — no catastrophe. Government failed to provide any water at all — no catastrophe (some people just started to pump and sell underground water)

So why private buisness not providing just one of those services for the period before it's bought, must result in catastrophe? (Just for time reference, the absence of water I described earlier already lasts longer than a year)