Why this matters more than the panels
Supply-only net metering for anything new
Export credit is the mechanism that decides what your roof is worth. Two identical systems on identical roofs can differ by years of payback purely because of which export structure they landed on. In Illinois that is the variable to understand before you look at a single panel spec.
What changed
As of January 1, 2025, ComEd, Ameren and MidAmerican moved new residential and small commercial customers from full retail net metering to supply-only net metering. This was the plan under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, and it is the single biggest change to Illinois solar economics in years.
What supply-only means
Your export credits now apply only against the supply and transmission portions of your bill, not against delivery charges. One worked example puts a 200 kWh monthly export at roughly $13.60 of credit at a ComEd supply rate near 6.8¢ — well below what the same export was worth at full retail.
Grandfathering
Systems interconnected and operational before January 1, 2025 keep full retail net metering for the life of the system — unless the owner accepts the DG rebate, which forfeits it permanently.
Annual true-up
ComEd and Ameren true up excess credits at avoided cost, so systematically overbuilding is penalized. Sizing close to your actual annual consumption is the sensible approach.
Co-ops and municipals
Around 30% of Illinois customers are served by municipal utilities or rural cooperatives, and net metering terms there vary. Springfield's City Water, Light & Power and Naperville Electric are examples. Call your utility.
Verify before you rely on any of this.
State and utility programs change on their own schedules, blocks fill, and capacity caps close things early. Everything here was checked in August 2026 and is dated for that reason. Confirm the current terms with your utility or your state commission before you make a financial decision, and treat any company quoting you a hard expiry date as a closing device until they show you the filing.
What it means for your roof
The arithmetic in Illinois
Illinois averages about 4.2 peak sun hours a day, so a kilowatt of panels produces roughly 1,226 kilowatt-hours a year here. Every one of those kilowatt-hours is worth one of two very different things: the retail rate, if you use it in the house at the moment it is produced, or whatever your export structure pays, if you send it to the grid.
That gap is the reason system sizing and, in some structures, storage matter so much. Sizing a system to maximize exports under a structure that pays little for exports is a design error, and it is a common one.
Who you would be working with
SolarAmerica
We design your system and manage the project; installation is performed by vetted licensed partners in your area. SolarAmerica is not itself the installing contractor.
Questions
The things people actually ask
Does Illinois have net metering?
As of January 1, 2025, ComEd, Ameren and MidAmerican moved new residential and small commercial customers from full retail net metering to supply-only net metering. This was the plan under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, and it is the single biggest change to Illinois solar economics in years.
What are solar exports worth in Illinois?
Your export credits now apply only against the supply and transmission portions of your bill, not against delivery charges. One worked example puts a 200 kWh monthly export at roughly $13.60 of credit at a ComEd supply rate near 6.8¢ — well below what the same export was worth at full retail.
Am I grandfathered if I already have solar?
Grandfathering depends on your interconnection date, and in some states on whether you accepted a rebate. Check your own interconnection date rather than assuming a change applies to you.
Does a battery help?
It depends on the gap between your retail rate and your export credit. Where exports are worth far less than retail, storing production for later use captures the difference. Where exports are credited at or near retail, that gap does not exist and storage is a resilience purchase.
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