“In the Bay Area, where monopolies such as PG&E are often the only utility options”
That is the way it is everywhere in California when it comes to electricity, gas, water and probably that way throughout muc of the country. I have never had another option in Kalifornia other than cable / phone service. The San Franmarxist Gate just stirring it up.
Not so. A number of municipalities have their own utilities. When I lived in Santa Clara, electricity was 40% less than PG&E. In Roseville at this time it’s closer to -75%. PG&E is so regulated it is practically an arm of the state government. I hardly need to tell what happens to affordability and efficiency when the government is in control
Parts of Texas have some choice in who you buy electricity from. You have to pay the middle man in any event (the company that transports the electricity from the manufacturer to the retail vendor) but you can select the retail vendor, and they can select where they get the electricity. Areas served by rural electric co-ops are exempt from competition. And some municipalities have their own generating plants.
Natural gas, on the other hand, is a monopoly.
Most utilities are run with strict public oversight. If a state has multiple utilities it is because each company serves a different part of the state.
In California PG&E can't raise rates without getting approval from a board. The problem is not PG&E. The problem is the board and the other politicians who have been forcing the utilities to move to renewables before their time. Also, it's not about requiring the utilities to build more plants or more dams, but in not retiring or limiting existing infrastructure.
Everywhere in California they are misusing dams to save a few fish, or retiring power plants because a bunch of idiots built and bought houses adjacent to the power plants and want the unsightly things removed.
The utilities are being dealt a bad hand due to clueless politicians and residents.
On the electric side there are "CCA's" in certain areas (usually "Blue" cities/areas), But again after PG&E delivery charges not much savings to be had. But lefties get their "Virtue Signaling" wind & solar props. that way.
https://www.pge.com/en/account/alternate-energy-providers/community-choice-aggregation.html
Then there are the "small" utilities in certain areas:
https://www.mid.org
https://www.smud.org
Others:
https://cecgis-caenergy.opendata.arcgis.com/documents/c69c363cafd64ad2a761afd6f1211442/explore