Reddit reviews The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google

Do you know why PG&E exists at all? What's the historical reasoning behind the quasi public/private monopoly? We wanted efficiency of larger power plants and no rat's nest of power lines across the city from competing power companies. If the city owns and maintains the power lines, there's no rats nest. And we're at a point now where power generation through means of solar and wind allows individuals to set up solar and wind farms however big or small as they can afford. The need to consolidate power generation into the hands of one giant is unnecessary, and all we need is for a public entity to facilitate the infrastructure and transaction between the sellers and buyers.

Each city builds and maintains their own power lines and facilitates the marketplace between buyers and sellers. Then people can build solar and wind farms wherever, sell their power to cities who then sell it to buyers at whatever markup keeps the power lines maintained and pays for regulation of the sellers.

Try reading: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Switch-Rewiring-Edison-Google/dp/039334522X

This book explains it well -- http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Switch-Rewiring-Edison/dp/039334522X