hmmmm. I should probably get some decent tweezers and scissors. I also need to replace my benadryl. It got wet and I never refilled it.
Thank you for posting this list. I’m comforted to know that I was already doing most of what was listed here, but worried that I left out a few essentials.
I got my pocket in the first wave of releases, but I held off on the dock until earlier this year. My dock arrived a few days ago and I love it.
After using modded Gameboys and various emulators, the pocket is my favorite hand held. I still prefer the form factor ofa Gameboy micro, but the pocket’s screen can’t be beat.
The dock is a nice way to top access those same games on a big screen, but I don’t think the pocket is the best option if you only want to play on a tv.
You’re right that most utility markets are regulated, but it is typically handled at a state level, not local. In most of the US, municipal governments are not the provider of electric and gas utilities, although there are certainly many exceptions. Additionally, when those small local utilities are given a service territory they are often just reselling energy purchased from a large utility.
I’ve worked for a large utility for the last decade. We’re a business just like McDonalds. We take in raw materials and convert them to a product that our customers want to buy. We try to attract new customers through advertising and good service. We lobby the politicians that regulate our market. We do all those business things, and we do it in the name of profit.
There are a lot of small co-op utilities that don’t work quite the same way. If large utilities were banks, those little co-ops would be credit unions. That type of utility is awesome because they are able to be more customer focused. Unfortunately most of them lose out on economies of scale, so their customers may not actually see any savings in comparison to the big guys.
If you still don’t believe utilities are big business, look at NextEra Energy. They’re worth about $150 billion, give or take a couple billion. That means they have a higher valuation than the combined worth of Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Longhorn, etc), Dominos, Wendy’s, Papa John’s, Chipotle, Burger King, and the Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut, etc).
These large utilities aren’t just bigger business than most restaurants. They’re an order of magnitude larger.
No big business utilities? PG&E is worth $35 billion. Duke Energy is close to $70 billion. The list goes on. These are fortune 500 companies that employ small towns worth of people.