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.
Solar customers who installed their system BEFORE January 1, 2025 will receive full retail net metering, which includes for supply charges, delivery charges, and taxes/fees. This is legacy net metering.
To qualify, the installation, testing, and final inspections of a customer's system must be completed, and all required paperwork submitted to the utility by 5:00 PM CT on December 31, 2024.
Legacy customers will receive legacy net metering for the whole lifetime of the system, but the credits will zero out once a year, in either April or October.
Legacy customers in ComEd territory may expand their systems with no cap and still retain legacy net metering. Legacy customers in Ameren territory may expand their systems with a cap at 100% and still retain legacy net metering.
Learn more on the Solar Powers Illinois Net Metering Landing Page!
Watch the NEM transition webinar recorded on September 5, 2024 here. Organized by ISEA and SEIA, the webinar was presented by Nikhil Vijaykar, Partner with Keyes and Fox, who represents community choice aggregation providers, clean energy companies, transportation sector clients, and advocates in administrative litigation, rulemakings, and other regulatory matters. Representatives from Illinois’ investor-owned utilities were on hand to help answer questions.
