No, Q, I don't think so. The reason why? The people in downtown Orillia are still getting their hydro from a public utility, and it's way cheaper per kilowatt than mine. I'm a few miles outside the town, and I have to get my hydro from a private company which took over the public utility I used to get it from.

Look, face facts. A public utility doesn't have to make a profit, it just has to break even. That's cheaper for the consumer than a profit oriented private utility. It has to be. Profit-oriented businesses are not designed to merely break even...they are designed to maximize profit and they will charge whatever they think the market will bear...whatever they can get away with.

Now, hydro is not a mere option in today's society, specially in a cold climate. You've GOT to have it. Therefore the privately-owned utility has you at its mercy and they can raise the price as high as they want to as long as they don't go so far as to create an absolutely unmanageable crisis. The larger privately-owned businesses become, the more they are at liberty to simply charge the public whatever they want to...and you have the development of what amounts to monopolies. That's what we have happening nowadays. Unofficial monopolies and price fixing.

I'm pretty sure that that is what's happening with gasoline prices too.