When a market goes from a subsidized and artificially state backed monopolized marketplace to non-subsidized and open market the issue arises that prices move to reflect the distortion and imbalances that were created by the former in the marketplace. Which is why there are almost always price shocks when government or a government backed private monopoly steps out of distorting the marketplace.
Eventually however the trend of a liberated marketplace is an inevitable march toward a price equilibrium to reflect the true costs of consumption and a promotion of more efficient use of resources. Additionally as the number of alternative competitors increase and barriers toward entry are knocked down consumers are the ones who end up benefiting in the long term.
But hey if you want to defend Duke Energy's state backed strangle hold in some twisted and tool like effort to make this into a "My side, versus your side" argument and at the same time discrete the ability to provide alternatives to a hand picked state energy utility monopoly then go right ahead. Big Coal thanks you, and so does the consortium which Duke and PG&E belong too (the ALEC consortium of state utilities) thank you as well because you are going to be on their side when it comes to undermining alternative energy utilities seeking to give consumers choices, some of which are significantly more environmentally friendly.
I don't have a side unless you call history, facts, and logic a side. The only time a free market works is when it's dealing with a necessary item or service, the moment the object is needed or required for basic functioning in modern society is when capitalism fails. That's not my opinion, that's history.
The issue here is a corrupt or shady government that failed to do its job. Do you know what the difference is between a corrupt government (I'm talking about the US political setup)? We can vote out corrupt governments and we can do it altogether all at once. Try doing that with a corrupt business.
Btw, a "market shock" that raises prices is not beneficial to the consumer as compared to an artificially low price that's created by government (again, this applies to goods and services that are needed, ie health care, roads, police, military, power, water, and even food).
Your free market idealism was utterly destroyed in the Great Recession, just ask Alan Greenspan