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»they just bought all privately operated power plants for billions«

No, Berlin brought only the previously privatized district heating (Fernwärme) back (https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2024/05/berlin-fernwae...). Because that is a monopoly and Berliners got ripped off by a private company.

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All of Berlin‘s district heating plants provide heat AND electricity. So the government owns a huge share of all electricity producers in this city now, too (about 60 % of the total production capacity).

Whether this constitutes a monopoly is beside the point. Berlin paid 1.4 billions is does not really have (after it sold it 20 years ago when it had even less money and could not sustain a profitable business operation) and which does not solve a problem we really have. And now it will need to invest even more money to future-proof this acquisition.

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