The technical means already exist for providing electricity’s benefits to both the estimated 1.2 billion people presently without service and the estimated billion more with unreliable grid service worldwide. Depending on the end uses served and equipment used to serve them, systems using neither long-distance transmission nor extensive local distribution can already prove fully cost-effective, compared to the alternatives they will replace. Some of those alternatives are liquid or solid fuels, like kerosene for lighting and charcoal, dung, or wood for cooking fuel. Or, a conventional alternative could use centralized power plants and extensive networks of wires, similar to the technologies used to serve most consumers in Europe and North America and in large cities and other developed areas in most of the rest of the world. This paper briefly catalogs some of the current technologies available for providing electricity services, whether or not interconnected to a larger utility grid. And, it outlines one possible business model for regulated utilities and competitive providers delivering services using such technologies. For example, utilities or other regulated suppliers might provide financing, quality control and quality assurance, operations and maintenance, and enforcement of performance guarantees and equipment warranties. The paper also explores one basic approach that regulators can take, supporting utility participation where desirable while providing oversight to prevent monopoly abuses. A major premise is that all utilities have important and potentially profitable roles to play in advancing rapidly growing markets for off-grid, stand-alone, and dual-use products and services. Dual-use equipment can operate either in tandem with the existing grid or in stand-alone mode. There is an opportunity for all utilities to create value for their stakeholders by enabling and implementing a well-designed energy ladder, meaning a sequence of products and services that leads to increasing well-being for customers that are presently unserved or underserved.