Natural Monopolies

Tim Haab provides a good Post about difficulties of Plant investment, but comes up with paragraph:

But, in some cases, monopolies are the natural industry structure. Electricity generation is one such case. Why? The cost of adding additional electricity customers is timy relative to the initial up-front investment needed to enter the electricity generating market. Once a company has made that up-front investment (building the plant, running the lines, etc), that company has a natural advantage over any potential competitors. The existing company can temporarily lower their price to simply cover the cost of additional customers, while the potential competitor has to charge prices needed to cover the cost of those expensive initial customers. The existing company has a natural built-in barrier to entry. These 'natural' monopolies are the least cost industry structure.

I would be the last to argue with this Statement, though it did make me think (dangerous). Are there really any natural monopolies?

Of course there are–maybe. Some might say (me) that monopoly means simply an organization and economic integration which precludes Competition. Electric Utilities were originally organized as mass concerns, based on the economic structure of the Plants existent at the time of its inception. Is this structure natural or inevitable?

This Author is still waiting for the combination Furnace/Generator to be designed. I also await the design of nuclear Fuel cells utilizing nanotech and Computer chip features, this to allow nuclear fuel to be distributed and transferred on open flatbed; the fuel cells neither radioactive or excessively warm. Both of these ideas stimulate small unit usage without Pollution or drainage problems in series outreach. It could well mean less Carbon transfer into the atmosphere as well, or at least dispersed emissions of said Carbon rather than the concentrated form which chokes at Present.

Most forms of natural monopolies, when examined, can be defeated by change of economic integration–technological innovation showing the most glowing promise invariably. Readers should always keep their minds open to advancement, even if it calls for reversal of traditional economic trends. lgl