I was not asking the seriousness of the illegality (civil vs criminal), but rather whether independent generation is itself specifically directly illegal or not

I was not asking the seriousness of the illegality (civil vs criminal), but rather whether independent generation is itself specifically directly illegal or not. For example, I've heard of places where not being connected to the grid is illegal (revocation of your occupancy permit), with the local utility monopoly then demanding you sign their contract with onerous terms (effectively making those terms de facto private law). Someone could sum up that state of affairs as being "independent generation is prohibited", meanwhile the actual details give much more room for sidestepping.