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> Why is it automatically the case that (for example) administrative policies set in place by government regulators in Venezuela couldn't already be set in place by PG&E's private administrators?

PG&E employees are not guaranteed salaries, pensions and benefits by the state. This means they need to stay competitive as they may get fired if revenues drop.

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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.

What happened when the phone line monopolies were terminated? What happened to the quality and price of calls?

You do recall what happened the last time California opened up the electricity markets?

Depends on the country, but in mine the breakup coincided with the internet boom that resulted in improved quality and reduced prices. Then they let the infrastructure rot for 20 years and the government had to step in to rebuild it.

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