The electric comet theory sees comets as leftovers of relatively recent catastrophic events in the solar system. Comets have elliptical orbits for good reason, and the most dramatic comet displays will typically involve highly elliptical orbits. During its time in the outer reaches of the solar system, the comet will acquire a negative charge with respect to the Sun. Then, as it approaches the inner limits of its orbit, accelerating through the electric field of the Sun, it will begin to discharge to the plasma surrounding it, producing the familiar bright coma and tail. Comet jets are electric discharges to the nucleus - the jets electrically machine the comet surface in a process similar to the industrial process known as spark discharge machining.
The electric view of comets can explain most if not all of the so-called mysteries that have long plagued cometologists, including: unexpectedly high temperatures and X-ray emissions from cometary comas (something never anticipated by mainstream theorists); the sharply carved relief of comets -- the exact opposite of what astronomers expected under the dirty snowball model; comets breaking apart or exploding considerable distances from the sun; explosive cometary jets that occur too far from the sun to be plausibly explained as eruptions of subsurface gas and water from solar heating; ejection of larger particles and even "gravel," something never imagined under the standard comet model (which supposes that nuclei accrete from primordial clouds of ice, gas, and dust); a short supply or complete absence of water and other volatiles on comets' nuclei; and the unexplained ability of a relatively minuscule comet nucleus to hold in place a highly spherical coma, up to millions of miles in diameter, against the force of the solar wind (a phenomenon graphically displayed by Comet Holmes).
When asked to interpret Holmes' "flare-up," Wal Thornhill suggested in a private email:
Outbursts from comets at great distances from the Sun seem to be correlated with a sudden change in the solar 'wind' plasma environment due to a solar storm. The point about sudden comet outbursts is that we are dealing with a sudden, discontinuous process of plasma discharge - a switch from dark current mode to normal glow mode. It is a complex surface phenomenon that cannot be predicted. The best we can do is to say that the passage of a sudden change in the solar wind is the most likely time to see a flareup.
And in fact, the sun had been electrically active in the days before Holmes' so-called "explosion". Investigator Michael Mozina noticed that there was a large spike in the density of the solar wind on October 22 at 19:45, two days prior to the flare-up. This could have switched the comet into what Thornhill describes as normal glow mode, allowing the plasma coma to become visible.
