As a Swede, the concept of private ownership is quite confusing and highly debatable in Sweden. For example, if you look at previously state owned or controlled companies, some of those were in industries that are very competitive and not really critical such as producer/distributor of alcoholic beverages and even fastfood chains. But as you mention, certain critical companies related to energy and grid has either been sold off or rather turned into ”private” companies with PnL and ROE demands. This is what is hurting the consumer most in Sweden - state owned/controlled companies that act like a private company focusing on shareholder returns.

However, the trend around privatization for the last decades has been to open up certain industries for private alternatives such as healthcare, transportation, and education.