solar power Archives | Citizens Utility Board https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/tag/solar-power/ Fight utility rate hikes, promote clean energy, and advocate for consumer protections in Illinois. Mon, 07 Jul 2025 17:44:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-CUB_LogoBadgeAlt-32x32.png solar power Archives | Citizens Utility Board https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/tag/solar-power/ 32 32 Breaking: CUB statement on final passage of budget bill https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2025/07/03/breaking-cub-statement-on-passage-of-budget-bill/ Thu, 03 Jul 2025 18:48:53 +0000 https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/?p=43267 A statement from Jim Chilsen, Director of Communications, Citizens Utility Board (CUB): The budget reconciliation bill that passed today represents higher power bills for consumers in Illinois and across the country. Tax credits that help everyday people use solar power or energy efficiency to cut costs at home are wildly popular and highly successful. These incentives are cost-effective ways to cut utility bills, reduce energy prices for everyone, make the grid more reliable, create jobs and spark the economy. This federal legislation ramps up the importance of Illinois continuing to pass strong, pro-consumer energy legislation, such as the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act, to build off what we have achieved and better protect consumers from high utility bills. These times call for strong consumer advocacy, and CUB is dedicated to working for consumer interests at the local, state, regional and federal levels as we fight for lower utility bills across Illinois. Background:  The House of Representatives passed the budget reconciliation bill on Thursday, July 3, by a vote of 218-214. The bill passed the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. The vote was 50-50, with the Vice President breaking the tie. The federal legislation now heads to the President for signing. Among other things, the bill ends these tax credits by Dec. 31, 2025: The “residential clean energycredit” helps consumers recoup up to 30 percent of the costs of energy-saving projects, like installing rooftop solar The “energyefficient home improvement credit” helps people recoup up to 30 percent of the cost (up to $1,200/a year) for energy-saving projects, like a professional home energy audit; installing insulation; door, window and electric panel upgrades; and installing a high-efficiency air-conditioning unit. (There’s an additional credit of up to $2,000 available for buying an electric heat pump or heat pump water heater.) Multiple studies have shown that rolling back clean energy tax credits could increase the average family’s energy bill by hundreds of dollars within a decade. In Illinois, the League of Conservation Voters has estimated that the legislation could lead to a $168 a year increase in residential energy bills, and a 21 percent increase in commercial and industrial energy bills.

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]]> CUB helps Sugar Grove couple secure a solar victory https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2024/04/22/a-good-story-to-share-on-earth-day-solar-victory-for-sugar-grove-couple/ Mon, 22 Apr 2024 23:11:57 +0000 https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/?p=40169 We wish you a Happy Earth Day. It’s the perfect day to share this story about a victory in helping people secure clean and affordable energy in Illinois: Becky and Mike just wanted to install solar panels, but a local ordinance banning panels on front- or street-facing roofs threatened to block 20 percent of their project, and an estimated $10,000 in potential savings. The Sugar Grove couple didn’t give up–they got to work. They paid $765 to file a petition to change the local zoning code, and spent about eight months researching solar law, attending public meetings and sparking other solar supporters to send letters urging the village board to change the rule. And on a recent night in Sugar Grove, it all paid off–the Village Board voted to change the code! Scott Allen, CUB’s renewable energy policy coordinator, spoke in support of Becky and Mike on TV and at the village meeting. “Everybody take note that organizing, and showing up and talking to your elected officials works,” Scott said in a celebratory video filmed with Becky and Mike after the meeting. Kudos to you, Becky and Mike. And thanks to all of you who support CUB’s advocacy. We’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure everyone has access to clean and affordable energy–but stories like this give us hope. Help support more victories for clean and affordable energy. 

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]]> Update: What’s Going On with Net Metering for Ameren Solar Customers? https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2020/12/02/whats-going-on-with-net-metering-for-ameren-solar-customers/ Wed, 02 Dec 2020 14:44:06 +0000 https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/?p=29256 UPDATE: The Illinois Commerce Commission sided with CUB and state solar advocates in a Dec. 2 ruling, asserting that Ameren’s calculations ended retail-rate net metering for solar customers too soon. Ameren will now return to retail-rate net metering and provide retroactive credits to any customers who might have been affected by the cutoff. Read CUB’s update. You may have seen headlines this fall about Ameren Illinois’ solar policy. Here is CUB’s breakdown of the issue and what it means to solar customers. What Happened? There was action before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) that impacts Ameren’s solar “net metering” policy. Ameren Illinois electric customers who install solar panels on their property have the opportunity to sell excess power they produce back to their utility (Ameren) in a process called net metering. Up until now, that has led to credits equal to the amount of that excess power on both the delivery and supply sides of those customers’ electric bills. Under the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), once the load of Ameren’s net metering customers equals 5% of the total peak demand, the net metering benefit on the delivery side of bills ends for new customers. To be clear: People already getting this benefit on both the delivery and supply sides of bills will continue to do so. This change only impacts new solar customers after Ameren reaches the 5 percent threshold. Those new customers will continue to enjoy net metering on the supply side of their bills, but instead of getting a net metering credit on the delivery side, they will get a one-time rebate, the amount of which will be determined. Again: New and old net metering customers will continue to receive net metering credits on the supply side of their bill. So what happened before state regulators?  Ameren informed the ICC that it had hit the 5 percent mark and would end delivery net metering for new residential solar customers, as of Oct. 3. However, solar installers and consumer/environmental advocates said that Ameren was incorrectly calculating the 5 percent by including net metering customers of alternative suppliers in the numerator but not the denominator, and that there was still time until the utility hit the threshold if this error were corrected. Ameren claims it is performing the calculation in accordance with its tariff. So this is a dispute over whether Ameren’s tariff correctly implements the law, and it has now sparked two cases before the ICC: One (20-0389) is Ameren’s attempt to establish the rebate tariff that will be provided to new net metering customers instead of delivery net metering. Another (20-0738) concerns the question over whether Ameren’s tariff correctly interprets FEJA. While the ICC looks into this to determine if Ameren’s calculations methodology is correct, new solar net metering customers (as of Oct. 3) will only see the net metering benefit on the supply side of bills. Depending on how the ICC rules, those customers will retroactively receive either the value of delivery-side net metering or the rebate. What is CUB’s Stance? CUB believes that Ameren is trying to end net metering prematurely. We are working with the ICC to resolve the issue, and we will alert consumers when the commission has finished its review of Ameren’s calculations. What Does This Mean for Ameren solar customers? This change only applies to NEW customers from October 3rd until a rebate value is determined, or until the […]

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]]> Solarize Chicagoland to host 25 webinars on going solar https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2020/05/29/solarize-chicagoland-to-host-25-webinars-on-going-solar/ Fri, 29 May 2020 14:30:11 +0000 https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/?p=25572 The Solarize Chicagoland program returns in 2020 with 25 free, public, one-hour informational webinars. Through these events, called Solar Power Hours, Solarize Chicagoland educates home and small business owners about solar and offers an opportunity to secure discounts on solar photovoltaic systems through volume purchasing. The program is led by two nonprofit organizations, Citizens Utility Board of Illinois (CUB) and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA), with support from four Chicagoland counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, and Will. For more information about Solarize Chicagoland or to view the Solar Power Hour schedule, visit www.SolarizeChicagoland.com. In 2019, the program achieved commitments to install nearly 1,000 kilowatts (kW) of solar on over 120 properties in the Chicago area. CUB and MREA are launching the Solarize Chicagoland 2020 solar group-buy program this week, and the program’s participation deadline is September 30. “Beyond the 120 people who went solar last year, over 900 people attended Solar Power Hours. That’s 900 people who are now informed solar shoppers,” said Christina Uzzo, environmental outreach coordinator at CUB. In its first year of operation, Solarize Chicagoland’s solar arrays will offset the emissions equivalent of approximately 800,000 pounds of coal burned. Collectively, customers will also save an estimated $98,300 in electric bills in the first year alone. “Over the past few months, an increasing number of households have been both working and schooling from home,” said Peter Murphy, Solar Program Director for the MREA. “Home energy use is now a budget concern for both households and businesses and a properly designed and installed solar electric system can effectively turn the expense into an investment return.”

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]]> CUB webinars to share tips on robocalls, cable, electric, solar in IL https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2020/04/13/cub-webinars-to-share-tips-on-robocalls-cable-electric-solar-in-il/ Mon, 13 Apr 2020 16:36:55 +0000 https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/?p=25025 In honor of Financial Literacy Month and Earth Month, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) is holding a series of free webinars in April to share money-saving tips about robocalls, pay TV service, electric bills and new solar energy programs in Illinois.   The webinars are part of the watchdog’s continuing efforts to serve utility customers through the COVID-19 public health emergency. Visit CUBHelpCenter.com to sign up for the webinars, or click the “Register” links below. “We want to offer helpful, free services consumers can use from the safety of their own homes,” CUB Executive Director David Kolata said. “These free webinars, offered by CUB experts, will give consumers practical information on how they can cut their costs and make their energy cleaner and more affordable. Our goal is to help consumers reduce stress over their expenses during this public health and financial crisis.”  CUB has gained expertise through 36 years of consumer advocacy it offers at no cost to Illinois consumers. The watchdog has helped save state residents $20 billion by challenging rate hikes, securing refunds, and providing tips to thousands of people who call CUB’s Consumer Hotline (1-800-669-5556) or attend free events it holds across the state each year. The webinars are:  10 a.m. Thursday, April 16: Reduce Robocalls and Cut Your Cable Bill (Watch this webinar).  Description: CUB gets two common complaints from consumers: Their phones are barraged by robocalls, and their TV bills are too high. Learn about new protections against these nuisance calls, and see our strategies to reduce your TV costs.  10 a.m. Thursday, April 23: Special Earth Week Topic: Illinois’ New Solar Programs Watch this webinar.  Description: Thanks to strong energy policy like the Future Energy Jobs Act, it’s a good time to go solar in Illinois. Find out if your home is right for solar panels, and learn about Illinois’ new Community Solar program that allows you to enjoy the benefits of solar without having to install panels on your home.    10 a.m. Thursday, April 30: Home Energy Savings for Ameren and ComEd Customers (Register Here).  Description: Learn about a whole menu of programs that can help consumers across the state of Illinois cut their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint. 

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]]> The power of solar! CUB alerts consumers to affordable solar program, as Sept. 30 deadline nears https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2019/09/04/the-power-of-solar-cub-alerts-consumers-to-affordable-solar-program-as-sept-30-deadline-nears/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 18:00:13 +0000 https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/?p=22964 The sun may have been setting over Evanston one recent evening, but the crowd gathered at the local civic center wanted to learn all about how solar power could reduce their electric bills and their carbon footprint with the help of a program called Solarize Chicagoland. “There’s a lot of energy around solar right now,  no pun intended,” said CUB volunteer Jessica Sieja, who led the Evanston crowd through one of the 66 “Solar Power Hours” that CUB has helped organize this year to educate people about Solarize Chicagoland. This is the ideal year to go solar in Illinois. Never before has the state had so many attractive incentives for people interested in going solar—including a 30 percent federal tax credit and an additional state incentive that can cover up to 35 percent of installation costs. And solar is made even more accessible and affordable through the Solarize Chicagoland program—but time is running out. Customers only have until Sept. 30 to sign up. Here’s how the program works: Residents and small businesses who sign up for the program participate in a bulk group-purchase of solar panels. Through a competitive bidding process earlier this year, one installer, GRNE Solar, was chosen to install panels at each participant’s home at a reduced rate. Participants get additional discounts on the installation costs as Solarize Chicagoland reaches certain goals. The current program is only open to people who live in Cook, Kane, DuPage and Will counties. The four counties are partnering with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) and CUB to make the program possible. Interested property owners have until Sept. 30 to sign up. For more information, visit SolarizeChicagoland.com, where you can watch a webinar on the program. CUB’s Christina Uzzo has spent the year helping to explain the program, discussing the projected costs of installing solar and highlighting these incentives: Solar Renewable Energy Credits: Thanks to Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act, passed in 2016, the state will purchase the “Solar Renewable Energy Credits,” or SRECs, that your system produces at a set dollar amount. SRECs allow you to sell the environmental value of the solar power you produce—you earn one SREC for every 1,000 kilowatt-hours. For residential solar, this incentive is an upfront payment determined by how much energy your system is expected to produce over 15 years. This could cover up to 35 percent of your installation costs. The Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit: This tax credit lets you deduct 30 percent of your solar project costs from your federal taxes. The credit is available through 2019, but it drops to 26 percent in 2020 and 22 percent in 2021. On-bill Credits from your Electric Utility: Once you have installed your system, you will not always be using 100 percent of the electricity it produces in real time. Excess electricity is sent back to the grid and you’ll receive bill credits for that electricity in a process called “net metering.” These credits help maximize your monthly bill savings and ensure you’re credited for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) your system produces, which helps pay off the remaining installation costs faster. “At CUB, we are very […]

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]]> Making History: The results of Illinois’ first solar lottery https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2019/04/15/making-history-the-results-of-illinois-first-solar-lottery/ Mon, 15 Apr 2019 20:02:11 +0000 https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/?p=17597 By Christina Uzzo CUB Environmental Outreach Coordinator  In a first in state history, the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) held a lottery to determine which proposed solar projects would receive funding through a new state program called the “Adjustable Block Program.” Hundreds of projects won funding, including 112 community solar projects across Illinois. What we love about community solar is that it allows for people who can’t install panels at their own homes to still enjoy the benefits of solar  power by subscribing to community solar gardens. (Click here for more information about community solar.) The Adjustable Block Program was created and funded by the 2016 Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), which was a historic win for consumers and clean energy advocates. FEJA mandates 4,300 new Megawatts of solar and wind be built in Illinois by 2030. That’s enough to power over 570,000 average households with renewable energy! Of the mandated 4,300 Megawatts, 3,000 Megawatts will be new solar. If all that solar took the form of large solar farms, it would be enough to cover over 10,200 football fields! For the past two years, the IPA has been working on the nuts and bolts of the program.  Meanwhile solar companies worked with municipalities and counties to propose projects across the state, and utilities developed interconnection procedures on how the winning projects would connect to and supply the grid with power. After so much hard work, stakeholder engagement, and community outreach, it will be exciting to watch this program materialize on rooftops and in fields throughout Illinois.  As these first projects get built, they will answer many of the remaining logistical questions, and provide examples for future projects in Illinois. The Adjustable Block Program, which opened to applications in January, and closed in mid-February,  includes funding for 1) Small Distributed Generation (residential and small-scale commercial solar projects); 2) Large Distributed Generation (larger residential, commercial, and industrial solar installations); and 3) Community Solar. The program has separate pots of money for different types and sizes of projects. It also separates the funding between ComEd territory and Ameren/MidAmerican territory. This ensures that a rooftop solar installation in Chicago is not competing for funding with a community solar project in Champaign. Calling for a 2,000 percent increase in solar capacity by 2030, the Adjustable Block Program proved to be enormously popular, as solar companies rushed to propose more than 900 community solar projects to improve their chances at getting the limited funding available. In ComEd territory, solar companies proposed 433 Community Solar projects, and 78 won the lottery to receive funding. In Ameren and MidAmerican territories 34 of 486 proposed projects will receive funding. (ComEd territory has more projects because it has more energy demand.) The community solar projects funded under the first round of the program are enough to power almost 29,000 homes. People interested in subscribing to community solar gardens will still have to wait for the approved projects to get built and interconnected to the grid. Industry experts speculate that a few projects will be online and available to subscribers by the end of the year, but that most of the projects […]

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]]> No such thing as free solar panels (but they can be affordable!) https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2019/03/26/free-solar-panels/ Tue, 26 Mar 2019 14:27:51 +0000 https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/?p=17318 CLAIM: You can get free solar panels installed on your roof! FACT: Some companies offer solar panel installation for no money down, but it’s not exactly free—you’ll be renting the panels, monthly, for the term of the lease, which is usually 20 years. CUB RECOMMENDS: Explore all of your options. While leasing may make sense for some homeowners, buying your solar system outright could end up being much more cost-effective. _________________________________________________________________ For several months now, we’ve been getting reports of door-to-door salespeople pitching “free” or “no money down” solar panels to homeowners all over Chicagoland. Sounds great! But are these offers legit? In general, any company that says they’ll install “free solar panels” on your roof is actually offering a solar lease. Yes, the solar panels will be installed on your home for no money down, but you will have to pay the leasing company every month to lease the panels, and those leases typically last 20 years. Leases we’ve seen also include a provision allowing the company to raise the lease rate by 2.9% every year. If you lease your solar panels, you are not eligible for the Federal Tax Credit or Illinois Shines incentive programs. Combined, these two credits can help you pay off up to 60% of your installation cost within one year of your panels being connected to the grid. In many cases this reduces the payback time to five to seven years. Within that time frame, your monthly electricity bill savings will have recouped the remaining cost of the panels. With a solar lease, you will never see a return on investment, and do not see the full benefit of the monthly energy savings. Most people will pay more over the lifetime of a solar lease than if they purchased and financed a system. There are many low interest loans available to help you finance the upfront cost of solar. Check Energy Sage’s explanation of solar loans, and list of providers for more information. The most active solar leasing company in Illinois right now is Sunrun, an outfit out of California that has been selling and leasing solar panels for several years. Sunrun peddles its leases door-to-door, often through third-party companies like Chicago Clean Energy Authority and Sun N Us. They’re also at Costco stores, and have even partnered with Comcast to market their offer to Xfinity customers. We’ve also heard of another company, called Vivint, marketing solar leases in the area. There are likely more. So is leasing a good deal? Well, it depends. Back when solar panels cost more, and there weren’t state and federal incentives available to make rooftop solar systems more affordable, solar leasing was often a homeowner’s only feasible option. But now the price of solar panels is less than half of what it was 10 years ago. Plus, as we point out above, a combination of federal and state incentives can reduce the cost of a solar system on your property by up to two-thirds. Before you sign a solar lease, find out how much it would cost to buy your system outright, and, if necessary, finance it. Many […]

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]]> The forecast is sunny for La Grange principal’s electric bills https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2018/12/06/the-forecast-is-sunny-for-la-grange-principals-electric-bills/ Thu, 06 Dec 2018 21:57:40 +0000 https://citizensutilityboard.org/?p=16096 When Tim Sheldon moved to La Grange from a multi-unit building in Chicago two years ago, he finally got the opportunity to install solar panels, something he had been interested in for years. “In one hour the sun showers us with enough energy to power us for a year, we just don’t harness it,” the elementary school principal told CUB. His installation on the back of his roof, which faces east, has been up and running since October of last year. It comprises 19 300-watt panels for 5.7 kilowatts (kW) of power, which covers about 100 percent of his family’s energy needs. Sheldon expects the solar installation to be on his roof for 25 years, but he figures it will pay for itself in only 5 to 7 years,  so “everything after that is free money.” Sheldon is still a ComEd customer, and pays a customer charge like everyone else. But he has net metering, which means he only pays for any power he pulls from the grid above and beyond the power his panels added to the grid. Net metering works like rollover minutes on your mobile phone, Sheldon says. In summer his panels produce three to four times more than in the winter, so the power he put onto the grid in July goes toward his winter electric bills. In effect, he can run his meter backward. If that sounds complicated, don’t worry. Installing rooftop solar involves getting bids just like any other home improvement project. Just as a contractor putting an addition onto your house includes things like permitting into the bid, a solar contractor will also handle connecting the panels to the grid and setting up net metering for you. “It cost about $15,000, which sounds like a lot, but it’s money I’d be paying anyway from the standpoint of paying my electric bill,” he said. The substantial state and federal incentives reduced his cost from $15,000 down to $5,000, he said, and net metering helps cover the rest. Sheldon says that even people who don’t have $15,000 to pay up front can still benefit from solar, either by working out a payment plan with the solar company, leasing the panels, or participating in Community Solar. Another benefit is that rooftop solar increases the value of your home without increasing your property tax. In July 2017, Chicago magazine cited two studies showing that solar panels add value to homes. One study, by the Appraisal Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy, found an added value of almost $3,800 for every kilowatt of solar panels. “It makes not only environmental sense, but economic sense,” Sheldon said.

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]]> Breaking: Illinois’ solar boom https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2018/08/21/breaking-illinois-solar-boom/ Tue, 21 Aug 2018 15:51:18 +0000 https://citizensutilityboard.org/?p=14646 Have you seen the latest the headlines solar power has been generating this summer? Southern Illinois is becoming a hot place for energy companies to build solar farms–Belleville News-Democrat More Solar Farms Planned–The Times, Ottawa Six solar farms considered in Whiteside County–The Dispatch of Moline/Rock Island Argus Coal was king in this Illinois town for generations. A young mayor is betting on solar. -Belleville News-Democrat “We’re seeing the beginning of a solar boom in Illinois, and that’s a good thing,” CUB’s Jim Chilsen told one reporter. So why is this happening and what do YOU think about it? Read more on our solar page, take the survey, and we’ll send you helpful fact sheets about solar power and saving money:

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