Does the gas company do a great deal of R&D? Sure there's R&D involved in extraction and refining, but you seem to be talking about distribution. I think you may be talking about the (incorrect) idea that large infrastructure assets must be protected by state-enforced monopoly. Large infrastructure assets do not need this protection, and I blame Ma Bell for popularizing the idea (at least in the USA) that they do.
There's actually a huge natural gas rollout taking place in my community right now: http://www.summitnaturalgas.com/view/92 This is a large investment, which involves laying hundreds of miles of pipe and boring under the Lake of the Ozarks in three different places (in one location parallel to a privately-funded highway bridge). I understand that investors expect to be paid back over decades. Yet, no one appointed Summit to do this work, any more than anyone appointed Google or Monsanto to do what they do. Anyone in the world with an internet connection and a server farm is free to compete with Google. On day one when they turn the tap on their pipeline, Summit will be competing with numerous propane suppliers, the local incumbent electric companies, and even the long-term possibility (however remote) of another group building another natural gas pipeline. If Summit and Google don't need state protection, why would Monsanto?
Sure I agree that gas companies shouldn't be allowed to endanger the public in foreseeable and avoidable ways, but I sort of feel that way about everybody. If the gas company blows up your house then the courts should see that you are compensated. It seems a major step from that to "oversight committees". Maybe a committee will notice problems that most individuals won't, but there are many more individuals than there could ever be committees. We're much more likely to hear about the dastardly deeds of multinational corporations from the people they've screwed than from a government committee.
There's actually a huge natural gas rollout taking place in my community right now: http://www.summitnaturalgas.com/view/92 This is a large investment, which involves laying hundreds of miles of pipe and boring under the Lake of the Ozarks in three different places (in one location parallel to a privately-funded highway bridge). I understand that investors expect to be paid back over decades. Yet, no one appointed Summit to do this work, any more than anyone appointed Google or Monsanto to do what they do. Anyone in the world with an internet connection and a server farm is free to compete with Google. On day one when they turn the tap on their pipeline, Summit will be competing with numerous propane suppliers, the local incumbent electric companies, and even the long-term possibility (however remote) of another group building another natural gas pipeline. If Summit and Google don't need state protection, why would Monsanto?