Sometimes power companies have certain requirements before they will hook up a house and that could be added unforeseen expense. Around here they won't hook power up to your home unless you have an approved septic tank. Septic tanks are expensive!
Why do power grids require an approved septic tank? That sounds a bit strange. Not sure what they would say about our system. We have a bio-system and composting. No tank per se...
We also are our own insurance company. No paved road, fire station more than 30 miles away, and even if we could get insurance it would be prohibitively expensive.
When we first arrived in Nicaragua, we had power outages for 18 hours a day, every day. Cell coverage was really hit and miss. Municipal water was almost non-existent, delivery by truck once every 6 or 7 days.
So we had practice before we bought our land. We want to be fully off grid but the problem here is getting the solar panels and wind generators into the country. Customs like to charge an arm, a leg and your first born too.
We are looking for plans to build our own. We are up for the adventure!