Refineries for petroleum are centralized choke points, as are the distribution networks. The same tends to be true for natural gas.
The energy return on investment for oil has been falling, from 100:1 for the early wells, to as little as 2:1 in fracking.
We need to give up fossil fuels.
nuclear is still based on fuel.
there are too many government-sized subsidies all over the allegedly (but not really, not at all) free energy market. the energy market is too important to allow 'the market' to fully control it; so it's intervened with subsidies, tax-breaks, and other such kinds of influences (soft controls).
so many, and I know/understand so little about this, that I don't think it's necessarily more efficient. the centralized aspect of it (the historical norm for electrical grids) creates POWER besides the electrical.