Officials pass controversial law that could completely transform how crypto industry is powered: 'Crypto is hungry for electricity'

New Hampshire just passed a law that could end up shifting what people pay for power — maybe not today, but down the line.

The New Hampshire Public Radio reported that the state now allows off‑grid energy providers to link up directly with energy-hungry customers like crypto miners. That bypasses both the usual pricing structure and the state's renewable energy rules.

Rep. Michael Vose, who backed the bill, didn't sugarcoat it: "Crypto is hungry for electricity." He explained that the law will "allow someone that wants to create a crypto mining business to connect with someone who wants to provide electricity and . . . obtain electricity at a lower cost."

That sidestep around New England's high energy fees and the "complicated" grid process might mean lower rates — for some.

Noah Berman from the Acadia Center said this kind of setup "could protect consumers from energy price spikes" that tend to follow massive power use. But he added a warning. Off‑grid providers won't have to follow renewable requirements, and "the environmental impacts would be quite negative... if this pathway gets significant uptake in such a way that, for instance, brings many new diesel generators online all around the state."

So here's the tradeoff. On one side, faster construction, cheaper builds, and possible jobs linked to energy projects like small modular reactors.

"Whether it's a small modular reactor or a natural gas plant or a solar generation facility . . . if it can get built more quickly and at lower cost . . . it's a win for New Hampshire," Vose said.

But with fewer rules, some of those energy shortcuts might ignore clean-energy goals altogether.

But when it comes to environmental impact, crypto mining can eat up a lot of electricity — enough to spike demand in places already trying to cut back. This requires a lot of natural resources, such as water. Still, some crypto operations are using solar or helping finance cleaner sources.

One Facebook commenter summed it up: "What could possibly go wrong with unregulated power generation? Maybe instead of focusing on sweetheart deals for a tiny power hungry, highly polluting industry we don't need, they could work on ways to decrease energy costs for everyone else."