Illinois Shines Releases Final Report on Mentorship Pilot Program

On March 1, the IPA’s Illinois Shines program released a Final Report on the first cohort for its new Mentorship Pilot Program. Designed to equip minority-owned, woman-owned, veteran-owned, or disability-owned small businesses, with the knowledge and skills to successfully participate in the Illinois Shines program, staff from the Illinois Shines program administrator (Energy Solutions) administered the eight-week Illinois Shines Mentorship Program across October to December. Twelve businesses participated in the first Mentorship Program cohort.

The Final Report summarizes the inaugural Mentorship Program, outlines recommendations for future cohorts, and includes testimonials from mentees. To read the Final Report, please visit the Illinois Shines Mentorship Program page.

To further support small business participation, the Illinois Solar for All and Illinois Shines Programs also recently published a joint-program Small and Emerging Business Guide. This Guide is intended to help both prospective business owners and small businesses navigate the solar landscape in Illinois by providing essential information on business certification, market participation, and incentive program qualification requirements.

Final Documents for Spring 2024 Energy and Capacity Procurement Posted

On March 14, the IPA and its Procurement Administrator (NERA Economic Consulting) posted the final documents for its upcoming Spring 2024 energy and capacity procurement events. The bid date for the Spring 2024 procurement event is April 15. 

Under a hedging strategy approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission through the IPA’s Annual Electricity Procurement Plan, the IPA conducts procurement events to meet the energy supply requirements of “eligible retail customers”—residential and small commercial customers of ComEd, Ameren Illinois, and MidAmerican that have not switched to an alternative retail electric supplier or elected to take real-time pricing service—twice annually. Procurement events are held in the Spring and Fall of each year, with the block energy procurement prices paid through those procurement events in part forming eligible retail customer electricity supply rates. 

When combined with other charges, those resulting supply rates are then represented through the “price-to-compare,” allowing customers the ability to compare default electricity supply prices versus offers made by retail electric suppliers. Over the past 18 months, the price-to-compare has declined substantially, as wholesale energy prices have fallen and the IPA’s energy procurement events have yielded lower block energy prices resulting in lower electricity supply rates. The current price-to-compare is 6.848 cents per kilowatt-hour (cents/kWh) for ComEd customers and 8.683 cents/kWh for Ameren Illinois customers—down from the Summer 2022 highs of 11.04 cents/kWh and 12.24 cents/kWh.  

Procurement results from the Spring 2024 procurement event will help form electricity supply prices paid by eligible retail customers of Illinois electric utilities across the next three years. To learn more about the Agency’s electricity procurement process, please visit the IPA Electricity Procurement page.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launches Clean Energy Connector Tool with Illinois as Pilot State

The IPA is excited to announce the soft launch of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Connector. The Connector is a digital platform making community solar more accessible to households participating in government-run low-income support programs. Illinois is one of the two pilot states chosen to support the pilot in connecting income-eligible families to solar energy through its Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Through the Connector, the IPA’s Illinois Solar for All Program (ILSFA), in collaboration with DOE and Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity’s Office of Community Assistance, will help streamline LIHEAP approved household access to ILSFA community solar projects. A total of nine LIHEAP Administering Agencies throughout Illinois will participate in the initial rollout.

Given the timing of the Connector’s launch, no active community solar projects are yet seeking subscribers through the Connector. However, the IPA is confident that this new tool will provide robust opportunities for ILSFA community solar projects to reach income-eligible residents more easily and help lower energy burdens.

Consumer Protection Resources for Illinois Residents and Businesses

The IPA is committed to consumer protection and works diligently to ensure positive experiences for Illinois residents and businesses interested in going solar. As part of that commitment, the IPA utilizes a proactive approach to consumer education and awareness. By developing a variety of resources with consumers in mind, the IPA works to make obtaining information on going solar more effortless and streamlined.

Key resources for customers are listed below:

Illinois Shines Guide to Going Solar: This guide provides key information on the major steps in the Illinois Shines application process.

Project Status Lookup Tool: This tool empowers customers who have a Distributed Generation (on-site) solar project to view the status of their project application in the Program’s application process.

Informational Brochures: These brochures—provided for both Illinois Shines and Illinois Solar for All—inform customers of their rights, procedures for filing complaints, and other key information related to the IPA’s solar incentive programs.

Disclosure Forms: Solar contractors and subcontractors must provide a standard Disclosure Form to each customer before the customer signs a contract. Disclosure Forms are designed to provide customers clear and consistent information about solar projects and transactions, including system equipment, size, cost, operations, warranties, and financing benefits.  

Customer Complaint Center: The Customer Complaint Center provides information on complaints made and disciplinary actions taken against firms benefitting from the IPA’s solar incentive programs, allowing customers to make more informed choices when going solar. Should a customer have a negative experience, the Customer Complaint Center also provides information for how to submit complaints. 

The IPA’s consumer protection efforts are not just built around protecting consumers and businesses from harmful business practices, but also educating and empowering consumers to make well-informed decisions about going solar.

To view additional consumer protection resources, please visit the Consumer Protection Hub on the Illinois Shines website.