Political leaders look out only for their own side.
Politicians are always realistically maneuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers. In the 1930s they found that when electricity-generating networks of neighbouring localities were interconnected, each region's peaks and valleys of power use would be staggered somewhat. Hook up different time zones, with inherently time-shifted use patterns, and the savings multiply. Were we to join the grids of two continents, one that may be partly in daytime while the other is in night, and the efficiency swiftly doubles.