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Utilities are a special case—normal market competition isn't really possible, and reliability is more important than getting the lowest price. As for your store

• kube-system 3y ago
  Price floors are not uncommon in US agriculture regulation, it prevents prices from falling too low and suppliers going out of business as a result. Milk is one of the common examples of this in the US. e.g.: https://www.maine.gov/dacf/milkcommission/minimum.shtml https://www.maine.gov/dacf/milkcommission/minimum.shtml Again, as you point out, it is another example of reliability being more important than free market pricing. My point here is that "economists say prices control are bad" is an oversimplification. Importantly, economists know how price controls effect markets and sometimes they can be effective tools.