Regulators worried about ratepayer equity—how fixed grid maintenance costs might shift onto rural or low-income customers if high-volume commercial users defected.
But some utilities saw the writing on the transformer.
At a diner in Nashua, Ken Holbrooke, a mid-level strategist at Eversource, stirred his coffee while watching a delivery drone skim the power lines.
“If we can’t beat ’em,” he said, “maybe we build faster under a different name.”
He stared out the window. “It’s like watching your monopoly get eaten by a thousand startups with soldering irons.”
Asked what that might mean in practice, he shrugged. “We’ve got the capital. We’ve got the engineers. Nothing says we can’t play both sides—regulated and rogue.”
Back in Concord, Vose folded HB 672 into his breast pocket and stood by the window. Outside, the clouds had cracked open. Sunlight streaked through the haze and lit the rooftops in copper and gold.
New Hampshire might not save the American grid.
But it was already breaking the silence.
The hum of fluorescent lights carried a new resonance—not failure, but possibility.
And whether that future will scale—or short—may depend on how long the grid can hold its monopoly on trust.
Bibliography
1. Vose, Michael. Interview by Bill Southworth. Concord State House Office, August 2025. Discussed motivations and implications of HB 672.
2. Ayotte, Kelly. “HB 672: Off-Grid Energy Deregulation Bill.” New Hampshire Legislative Records, August 2025. One-page bill that became law, eliminating regulatory barriers for off-grid electricity projects.
3. U.S. Department of Energy Official. Interview by Bill Southworth. Washington, D.C., August 2025. Quoted anonymously for job protection.
4. Shore, Anika. Interview by Bill Southworth. Claremont Workshop, September 2025. Shared real-world results of off-grid pilot energy systems.
5. North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports on unregulated battery and generator safety risks, 2024–25.
6. Cato Institute. “Regulatory Delays and Electricity Innovation.” Policy Studies Quarterly, July 2025. Study outlining average project delays due to regulatory hurdles.
7. International Energy Agency. “Electricity 2025: Global Outlook.” IEA, February 2025. Includes AI-specific electricity demand projections to 2030.