Hate going off-topic, but in reply to localizing power utilities, it's an interesting idea that easily can go HORRIBLY wrong. Take Lake Worth for instance... The city does their own utilities, but it's all just bought from FPL (no generation of their own, Lake Worth isn't nearly big enough). It's been highlighted well before the storm that they pay the highest price per kWh in the state, and have the worst service / most outages. The city lost power about 18 hours before the storm hit, and restoration didn't begin for almost a week. Suffice it to say, some things are better left in the hands of large, financially independent corporations.