Texas Burning

In his widely read annual letter, Warren Buffett cited utility risk from wildfires; days later, Xcel Energy is accused of igniting the largest fire in Texas history.

Credit: Flower Mound Fire Department/Shutterstock via the Wall St. Journal

Last week, I wrote about Sam Insull’s innovation with time-of-use rates. His other big innovation was the monopoly business model for utilities, which he first proposed in 1898 and was ubiquitous in the U.S. just 15 years later.

Under that model, utilities earned guaranteed rates …