This is sounding like you're trying to do a socialism over here.

Many states have very regulated utility prices: you may need just a half dozen buddies and get appointed to the oversight board that approves rates

Yes. It's like big telecom. When people install panels at home, power companies start inventing additional fees. If communities start looking for local grids, companies start lobbying to outlaw this.

The main problem with that is the large power consumption by industry. This is ensuring continued profits for the company and thereby weakens your influence, similar to hiring scabs.

In the short term, yes. The money you've saved is now considered "disposable income" and will be absorbed by the next person in line.

If a paycheck could make you wealthy, no one would give you a paycheck. A retirement account CAN make you wealthy but only after the machine has squeezed 40+ years out of you. But one way or another that money is leaving your hands and flowing back into the system.