In the middle of an emergency, when power is going offline for physical reasons, the usual laws of supply and demand simply don’t work- supply is inelastic and

In the middle of an emergency, when power is going offline for physical reasons, the usual laws of supply and demand simply don’t work- supply is inelastic and no matter how high the price gets, supply cannot be increased. In that situation, the combination of price controls and rationing is a better solution. Markets are not magic. They shouldn’t be idealized as a perfect panacea. They are one possible mechanism among others to manage production and price.