REC stands for Renewable Energy Credit, which represents the delivery of 1 megawatt-hour of renewable energy to the grid and all associated environmental benefits created by displacing 1 MWh of conventional power.

Essentially, a REC is a commodity you receive for being environmentally friendly. For every megawatt-hour you produce with your solar panels and send to the grid, you receive one REC, which you can then sell at a price set by the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois Power Agency.

Learn more about RECs and pricing here.

Net metering (NEM) is a policy that allows owners of solar energy systems to receive credit for electricity they export to the grid. Under net metering, solar customers reduce the amount of electricity needed from their utility by generating their own power, and utilities must buy any excess electricity not consumed on site.

For example, when a rooftop solar system produces more electricity than a home or business uses, the extra power is fed into the grid and can serve other customer loads nearby. When that happens, the customer's meter runs backwards, providing a credit that can be used during periods when power consumption exceeds solar energy generation. At the end of the billing cycle, customers are either charged for their net electricity usage or may have remaining credits that can be carried forward and applied in subsequent billing periods.

As of January 1st, 2025, new solar customers will receive net metering for their supply charges, but NOT for their delivery charges or taxes/fees as they have in the past. Customers will be able to choose between a 1:1 kWh or monetary credit for excess electricity exported to the grid, applied to their next bill if exports exceed consumption. These credits will not expire.

To offset the initial cost to install solar and/or storage, customers can apply for a one-time “Distributed Generation (DG) Rebate” (also called the “Smart Inverter Rebate”) and/or the “Storage Rebate.” The DG Rebate offers an incentive of $300 per kilowatt of generating capacity and the Storage Rebate offers an incentive of $300 per kilowatt hour of storage. A customer must participate in a peak time rebate program, hourly pricing program or time of use rate program offered by their utility to qualify for the Storage Rebate.