That profitability is the consequence of regulation. Utilities are generally a government granted monopoly so any failure to provide service (brown or blackouts

That profitability is the consequence of regulation. Utilities are generally a government granted monopoly so any failure to provide service (brown or blackouts) comes with huge fines. Last I checked, the fine for a utility in Southern California for a blackout in the LA metro area could be as much as several hundred million dollars. That would wipe out the profitability for the year so the vast majority of utilities in the US own or contract out to "peaker" plants that are on standby but ready to quickly spin up. If these regulations were updated to require less polluting peaker plants, nuclear might be the only option because the economics are government mandated. I wouldn't be surprised if California started moving this direction by 2050 if it can give up the Nat gas addiction.