"gold plated" poles and wires to explain the price hikes was actually a furphyThe transmission and distribution networks are natural monopolies so prices are regulated.
The providers are guaranteed a return on their investment. The return has to be sufficient to make it worth while otherwise they would just buy bonds.
The more the providers spend the better their return so yes there was a period where they overspent on the East coast but the rules were changed to stop that behaviour some time ago.
It boils down to balancing money spent which is recouped from customers over time to how reliable people expect the network to be.
Taken over a full year the network downtime in general is quite low.
