Apart from the schools, the roads, the post office, the hospitals? No I can't think of many. Electricity and banking would have been on that list before they were privatized though.

As for Venezuela, they've also been subject to US sanctions when the privatize something, so cause and effect are hard to determine.

PG&E is a monopoly. In the vast majority of cases you can't shop around for electricity or gas service, the only alternative is to go without electricity and/or gas service. In the event that a competitor tries to enter the market it will take a colossal capital outlay just to connect the first customer with no guarantee of profit. Nobody is going to do it. Lastly the rates are set by the state not PG&E so their income is quite predictable. Working harder at PG&E doesn't mean you're going to affect their bottom line, this isn't a factory making widgets or software company making code.

Neither do monopolies, like PG&E. Their profits are guaranteed at 10%, they can raise utility rates as they see fit, to cover expenses (The state has some influence, but it does not exercise it), and the shareholders are not personally liable for any malfeasance by the firm.

It's essentially a license to print money, with no incentives to improve. If you don't like their service, there's no competing power provider you can switch to. If you don't like them starting wildfires, you can sue them, and end up paying for your own lawsuit out of your next power bill. If you don't like them deferring maintenance, while paying shareholders dividends, you can... Complain on the internet?

At least with a state-owned utility, if you don't like how it's ran, you can always exercise your democratic rights to vote someone in who can fix it. Surely, of the 39.5 million people in California, you may be able to find one politician who knows how to run a business? Or knows how to hire managers that know how to run a business?

> Remember Venezuela was one of the most educated, wealthiest latin countries at the end of the 90's.

Then the price of Oil skyrocketed in the '00s, and the USA began destroying and sanctioning the economy to keep those oil rates high. This is the same reason Iran has sanctions, protecting the USA and OPEC.

All I can tell you is that my municipal utility (electric & freshwater/stormwater/wastewater) has been running for decades, and has very competitive costs & high customer satisfaction. Oh, and all our power lines are buried.