Electric utilities in the US are woefully inefficient (not counting Texas). They long ago fell victim to regulatory capture. They don't innovate because it doesn't translate to higher profits. Since their profit margin is exclusively set by lawmakers it's much more cost effective to lobby for higher rates and this is exactly what happens in practice. Service improvements and cost reductions fall by the wayside.

I briefly worked on a software product to help utility companies maximize profit with a sophisticated electrical model of the entire grid. It was really cool software. I "briefly" worked there because the whole division was run into the ground and destroyed by incompetent corporate bureaucracy, all fueled by industry-wide malaise brought on by regulatory capture. Lesson in there.

Our grids are not going to modernize themselves. The government is not going to do it either. Just like with money, the solution is decentralization. Fortunately there is a really great decentralized power source available literally everywhere on the planet: solar power. Solar generation is growing by leaps and bounds, despite the economic drag imposed by government mandated market inefficiencies.

The future is distributed power generation enabled by hyper local demand response. With bitcoin, you don't need to get robbed selling your power back to the grid. Mine bitcoin with it instead. Make electric utilities obsolete with solar panels, batteries, and ASICs in every house. The sooner we get there the better.