Nature-loving Nutmeggers with dreams of ‘going off the grid,’ may want to consider moving to another state, as Connecticut has been ranked 3rd worst state in a study released this week by Home Gnome.
The study assessed a wide variety of metrics across each state, broken down into five different categories: feasibility, infrastructure, affordability, climate and safety. Connecticut ranked 49th in both feasibility and infrastructure, 48th in safety, 42nd in affordability and 12th in climate. Connecticut bested only New Jersey, ranking 49th, and Rhode Island, ranking 50th.
“Smaller states have dense rural areas — less ideal for folks seeking solitude,” the study explained. “These states also have few off-grid properties for sale, expensive land, and less favorable road conditions.”
The study deemed Iowa to be the most off-grid friendly state in the U.S.
“Iowa takes first place for off-grid living with a moderate climate, access to rural healthcare, and successful renewable energy systems,” read the study. “Iowa also boasts a low cost of living and a relatively low rural poverty rate of 11%.”
Texas took second place on account of its high production and growth in wind and solar energy, and for having 48,000 off-grid properties for sale, the highest number of any state in the study. Kentucky, Minnesota and Oklahoma rounded out the study’s top five states for off-grid living.
Feasibility was determined by the compatibility of states’ utility laws with off-grid living and rural population density. Per the U.S. Census Bureau, Connecticut has the fourth-highest population density of any state, making it harder to find property that’s truly remote. Additionally, the study found Connecticut to be in a ten-state tie in terms of the compatibility of its laws with off-grid living. The other nine states listed as having low compatibility are Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Colorado and Utah.
“Laws and regulations often pertain to permit requirements, restrictions on tiny homes and RVs, and zoning laws requiring homes to be connected to the electric grid and/or municipal sewage systems,” explained the study.
Infrastructure was determined by the health of roads, availability of remote property, rainwater collection laws, and the growth and availability of renewable energy grids. While Connecticut does have few restrictions on the collection of rainwater, U.S. News and World Report ranks the state as having the third-worst roads of any state. According to TRIP, a national transportation research non-profit, 62% of the state’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition. The highest percentage of poor or mediocre roads found in any state in Home Gnome’s study was 67%.
On the topic of renewable energy, despite the state government’s push for increasing its share of renewable energy production and purchasing, it lags far behind other states. Per the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Connecticut ranks dead last in the percentage of electricity generated by renewable sources, at 3%.
Affordability of states was ranked by the average value of land, property tax rates, general cost of living, homeschool regulations, rural poverty rates and the strength of state homestead exemptions. While Connecticut does have some of the most lax homeschooling regulations in the country, it also has some of the priciest land per acre, highest costs of living and the third highest property tax rate of any state in the country.
For homestead exemptions, which protect a certain amount of equity in a resident’s home in the case of a spouse’s death or declaration of bankruptcy, Connecticut actually has stronger exemptions than most other states in New England. With the passage of a bill in 2021, Connecticut’s homestead exemption was raised to protect $250,000 worth of equity for individuals and $500,000 worth of equity if the home is co-owned.
That being said, the state’s exemption still pales in comparison to the unlimited exemptions offered by Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Iowa. Furthermore, Connecticut’s exemptions do not include any provisions for a homeowner’s property taxes.
“Seven states — like Oklahoma (No. 5), Kansas (No. 8), and South Dakota (No. 10) — have low restrictions and no financial cap on tax exemptions for homesteads,” read the study.
Climate is the one area Connecticut ranked favorably in. The study took into account the yearly amount of sunshine, average yearly rains, average wind speeds and the average number of very cold and very hot days. The highest ranking states had lots of sunshine and ample rain, and moderate climates lacking in extreme weather. Connecticut ranks 39th in annual sunlight, has the 10th most rain, and has the 22nd highest average temperature per year.
When assessing safety, the study took into account the state’s crime rates, their access to rural healthcare, and the number of environmental hazards and violations. While Connecticut has the 13th lowest crime rate and its rural counties have low FEMA hazard indexes, low access to rural healthcare and a high number of hazardous material spills drag down the state’s ranking.
For state residents serious about moving off-the-grid, the study did rank three New England states within its top 25; Vermont, ranked 6th, Maine, ranked 19th, and New Hampshire, ranked 21st.
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This article should be highlighting that residential solar costs 48 cents/kWh before subsidies or 10 times the cost of energy from the ISO-NE power pool. Everyone else is paying for the solar customer’s wokeness. Under the net metering scam the residential solar customer doesn’t pay for any of the transmission, distribution or public benefits costs for the 20 year term of the contract. California has ended net metering and Maine is presently discussing 4 bills to end net billing. Maine and Connecticut each have solar cost shifts amounting to about $200 million per year or $4B over the 20 contract life. And this number is steadily growing and will continue to do so unless we ask our legislature to stop it.
And the above costs ignore the very expensive costs of storage when the solar isn’t working.
The next big cost shift is heat pumps as electricity for heat pumps costs 4 times the cost of electricity for the present load. Heat pumps will double the price of electricity for all of us.
Heat pumps cost 70% more than my 95% efficient gas boiler at the present prices. Customers should be warned about the high cost of heat pumps which will escalate in the future.
Without heat pump and electric vehicle load 90% of the expensive offshore wind is not needed (34,000 MW vs 3200 MW by 2050 according to ISO-NE EPCET study).