Should I go solar in Illinois? What’s changing in 2025

Between 2017 and 2022, residential, or rooftop, solar grew 2552% in Illinois. That means we went from producing only enough energy to power 5,500 homes to producing enough energy for 118,000 homes. That number continues to grow as the solar industry grows in Illinois.

But in order to reach Illinois’ goal of using 100% clean energy by 2050, residential solar still has a long way to go. Luckily, Illinois is a fairly solar friendly state. Currently ranked 15th in the nation for solar energy, Illinoisans have a number of solar-related savings to take advantage of. 

Primary among these is what is known as solar net-metering. Illinois is transitioning to new solar policies in 2025, but you may still be able to take advantage of net-metering if you act fast.

What is net-metering?

Net-metering is a way of  compensating homeowners with solar panels for the excess electricity that they produce and feed into the electrical grid. Let’s break that down. 

When you put solar panels on your roof, they will generate electricity whenever the sun shines. Depending on the size of your system and your household consumption, those solar panels will produce more electricity than you use during peak generation hours. This excess electricity gets fed back into the grid, where it can be used by other customers. Under net metering, your utility will then credit you for the electricity you’ve produced at the same rate you pay the utility when you take electricity from the grid. 

Your electric bill is composed of three categories of charges: supply (the cost of the electricity itself), delivery (the cost for the utility to deliver the electricity to you), and taxes & fees. Under the current net-metering system, the utility credit for the electricity you produce is a 1:1 compensation for the electricity you buy –  this means that the credit includes both delivery & supply charges. This makes sense because rooftop solar reduces both the need for centralized electricity generation and for utility distribution infrastructure. 

For rooftop solar customers, net metering is a proven policy that results in large savings over the course of a year and allows for solar panels to pay for themselves in 10-13 years.

Under Illinois law, this policy is changing starting January 2025. Utilities are adopting a new method of crediting customers for the electricity known as Smart Solar Billing.

What is changing in Smart Solar Billing?

First, let’s note that this system will only apply to new customers. Legacy customers, as well as anyone who installs their solar system and files all the proper paperwork before December 31, 2024 at 5:00PM will continue to be credited for their electricity under the old system.

For customers who do not install a solar system before the cut-off date, there are a couple of changes to be aware of moving forward. First, excess electricity will be credited differently. Instead of being compensated 1 to 1, customers will only be compensated for the energy supply charge but not the distribution charge. This will result in reduced savings on your electric bill compared to the current system, but you can still save long-term.

Second, new customers will be compensated for the benefits their solar panels contribute to the distribution grid in a new way: a one-time “Distributed Generation” rebate by their utilities, equivalent to $300 per kW of installed capacity. For a typical system of 5 kW, that’s an upfront rebate of $1500. This can be applied towards the overall cost of the system. A similar rebate is available for adding storage to your existing solar system.

How to take advantage of Smart Solar Billing

In order to take advantage of these savings, you need to go solar!

If you’re looking to take advantage of the system expiring at the end of this year, you’ll want to get started right away. The actual process of installing panels on your roof typically only takes a couple days, but typically the process can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. This extension includes time for permitting, inspections, and pre- and post-installation utility assessments, which vary between utilities in length and rigor.

The same applies if you’re looking to go solar in general.

To read more about how to go solar and what system best suits your needs, as well as assess your home for solar potential, read Environment America’s How-To: Go Solar guide.

How to save while going solar

Rooftop solar installations can be expensive. Luckily, there are a few different ways to save on them in Illinois.

On the federal level, the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022 made federal solar tax credits available to the public as part of an investment in clean energy. These credits can offer 30% of the installation cost, after any rebates offered by your utility.

Illinois also has several programs that can help consumers save. Illinois Shines will provide you, either directly or through your utility, a Renewable Energy Credit (REC). RECs provide a one-time payment for every MW your system is expected to produce over 15 years. Note that this program requires using an approved vendor in order to take advantage of the credits.

For low-income customers, Illinois Solar for All can help pay for installation. The program requires no upfront cost for the installation of solar and customers will not pay more than half of the value they would receive monthly from their system towards its installation cost.

With Smart Solar Billing, you’ll already save on your electric bill every month. Those savings can also be stacked through other initiatives to save long-term on your electric bill.

Adding storage will add upfront costs, but could help you save long-term

One such initiative is installing battery storage when you install solar panels. Battery storage systems collect energy throughout the day and can help you avoid buying back electricity from the utility on cloudy days or at night.

While adding storage will of course add to your upfront costs, all of the rebates above also apply to installing battery storage, meaning that, for example, the federal tax credits can also be used to attach storage to your home. Utilities will also offer a rebate of $300 per kWh of installed storage under the new Smart Solar Billing method. The Illinois legislature is also considering policies that could increase the value of storage for customers going forward.

Opting into time-varying rates can also help you save

Another method, one with no up front costs and with the potential for significant savings, is opting into “time-varying” rates. In Illinois, utilities are required to offer customers the opportunity to opt-in to rates that change as the price of supplying electricity changes. The goal of this pricing scheme is to allow you to be more flexible with your electricity usage and shift usage of major appliances to lower priced times.

For ComEd customers, this system is called Residential Real Time Pricing. These prices change, literally, in real time, meaning that even as electricity is being produced, the price per kWh may fluctuate. Most customers on Real Time Pricing will save money over time without any changes to their energy use – and shifting usage from higher to lower priced times can result in significant savings. Because solar panels typically generate the most power at the same time power prices are highest – in the late afternoon – combining solar, storage and Real Time Pricing provides opportunities for strong savings for customers. But if you don’t have solar, can’t shift your usage, and tend to use a lot of power at more expensive times, Real Time Pricing may not be right for you. 

For Ameren customers, the time-varying rate option is known as Power Smart Pricing. Ameren sets the fluctuations in price the night before based on electricity usage the previous day. So, for example, if you were to opt in to Power Smart Pricing today and use any amount of electricity at 11am, the price per kWh of that electricity would be equal to how much it cost to supply that electricity yesterday at 11am. 

With all of these rebates, tax credits, and saving methods available, every sunny roof without solar panels is a missed opportunity. When it comes to adding solar to your home, there’s no time like the present. Be a part of a growing solar community in Illinois and do your part to protect our planet while saving on your electric bill.