My guess would be, 100+ years ago, when you bought gasoline in a can at the hardware store, the price was pretty high and varied quite a bit. Now, with filling stations on every other street corner, there's a lot more competition and they can't get away with ridiculous rates.
I really can't believe they're going to be able to charge like they're trying to now, for very long. Charging ten bucks for two bucks' worth of electricity is ridiculous and people just won't buy it if there's any alternative, which should happen fairly soon.