Having a public energy sector would be beneficial in the long run and would reduce what we have to pay for it.

A well-run public energy sector, certainly. Idk what we'd end up with given the most recent rotation of people in charge.

The state does have an incentive to keep consumer costs low in a way the private sector does not. But state officials also traditionally do a bad job of maintaining and expanding utilities to match consumer demand.

The end result tends to be low end user prices at the expense of reliable distribution and surplus volume.