Energy used to be fully regulated for a long time. All in all, they did a good job while getting a guaranteed return. Deregulation didn't really deregulate ever

Energy used to be fully regulated for a long time. All in all, they did a good job while getting a guaranteed return. Deregulation didn't really deregulate everything (the industry is still super regulated), but it brought in competition and more market based mechanisms. Stoft's power system economics textbook covers this subject pretty well. Deregulation helps incentivize innovation, but it isn't a slam dunk. We have a different system now that is definitely better in some ways and worse off in others. I doubt wildfire safety would have been radically different prior to deregulation.