Yeah, but I can keep a couple of 5 gallon cans of gas around. (And do. 4 exactly.) Not so easy to keep buckets of electricity handy.
Those are called batteries. But I still don’t think people should be held hostage to that. This is exactly why monopolies are terrible and why competition and a healthy marketplace are so critical. One provider with no competition can do whatever they want, especially if they’re “too big to fail”. California is literally allowing a company to kill its citizens with negligence and zero actual consequences.
Wait, if that's true, then how come they call electricity "juice"?