Yonuh, my own two cents' worth frmo a "Yooo-ropean"
with a totally different mind set.
1st, WATER is more important that power. If you can't have clean, dependable running water for personal hygiene and cooking, you can't live there. Gone are the days of hand-cranked water pumps. You want to be able to have a decent showerm, wash you clothes and your food, keep the house clean.
2nd, Communications which means both television/internet and the all-important telephone. TV / Internet you can up/download via satellite, if cable is to expensive to deliver (nobody in his right mind would pay 8-10 miles of cable across the range). Here in Europe there are internet service providers who will provide a satellite link, which is just as good as medium quality DSL (meaning, 256-512Kbs speed) with a dish pointing to the stars.
3rd, power. I put this last because it's the easiest to procure and/or manufacture. The wise choice would be to be to build a house with a siamesed electrical system, start on grid, and create your off-grid generator. Gradually switch your devices from grid to independent as you progress, until you can safely live off-grid. Then do a serious, in-depth risk assessment and determine the odds of an emergency/convenience to be on grid once again, in order to boost power availability or use dedicated devices (even medical appliances) My advice, however, is never to kill off your contract with the local power grid; at bestm, re-negotiate your customer priofile so that, with zero consumption, you pay a simbolic petty fee for the sake of
keeping your options open. Better safe than sorry.