The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act is Illinois’ bold response to federal clean energy rollbacks, and a critical first step to address the ongoing energy affordability crisis. Energy costs in Illinois are high due to the expensive capacity market and, increasingly, data centers. 

CRGA mitigates rising utility bills by reducing the peak demand that drives the capacity market costs and building more cost-effective clean energy grid capacity. Data centers are still a problem, however, and PRN and partners in the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition are working on that next. 

The CRGA Act takes effect on June 1, 2026. See Table of Contents if you want to dig into this 1000-page law.

Big Picture Wins

The CRGA Act continues Illinois’s fight against climate change and addresses the affordability crisis by:

1. Mitigating rising utility bills by making cost-effective investments in clean energy resources. According to the Illinois Power Agency, without action, ComEd customers’ annual bills will go up by $24 by 2030, and Ameren customers’ annual bills will go up by $120 by 2030.
2. Securing Illinois’ clean energy economy by expanding clean energy capacity resources and energy efficiency. Our recent high energy costs are driven by the capacity market, and we can mitigate those costs by expanding grid capacity and reducing peak demand.
   1. CRGA expands grid capacity with an energy storage program and adjustments to the renewable portfolio standard that will deliver 3 GW of storage, 6 GW of wind, and 4.8 GW of solar by 2035.
   2. CRGA reduces peak demand with strengthened energy efficiency programs, opt-in time-of-use rates, and a new virtual power plant program expected to drive 3.6 GW of additional grid capacity by 2035.
3. Improving state energy planning & modeling. Illinois stopped planning its energy mix when it de-regulated its electric grid in 1997. CRGA reintroduces planning (without re-regulation) into the Illinois electric grid by having the Illinois Commerce Commission study how renewable energy resources are allocated and, potentially, increase clean energy resource procurements to meet projected energy and capacity needs, if doing so would lower utility bills.
4. Ensuring equity in the clean energy transition by enabling a Storage for All program, tripling  utilities’ low-income energy efficiency minimum program requirements, and supporting equity eligible contractors with $7 million/year to help them meet new labor requirements.

Not everything in CRGA is a win. While we are a strong proponent of the overall law, it was a negotiated bill and there are parts that we did not support. For example, PRN has concerns with the repeal of the nuclear moratorium, the wind and solar siting laws, and the weak air pollution controls at data centers. The summary below does not indicate full support of all the policies.

POLICY DETAILS

Large Scale Energy Storage

• Creates competitive procurements for grid-scale battery storage to facilitate development of 3 GW by 2030, which will expand grid capacity, reduce capacity costs, and is a critical part in the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
• CRGA ensures labor and workforce equity standards at battery storage projects, as well as clear rules for tax valuation of projects and controls on siting.

Home & Business Scale Energy Storage and Virtual Power Plants

• Storage rebate expansion and net-metering: Sets the rebate to $250 per kilowatt-hour of nameplate capacity for both storage paired with community solar as well as for standalone battery storage systems under 5 MW. Utilities are required to allow net metering for behind-the-meter storage systems.
• Virtual power plant program: Reduces peak energy demand and provides grid services with geographically dispersed, centrally managed (and opt-in) virtual power plants. 
  • Initially focused on a short-term Virtual Power Plant Program for residential customers and small businesses with battery storage – paying customers for use of their battery during peak demand times. 
  • The VPP Program grows over time to include more customers and technologies that are centrally managed to supply energy, reduce demand, and support the energy system during grid events.
• Storage for All Program: Pairs the Illinois Solar for All Program with Storage for All. It is designed to allocate up to 25% of program funding toward energy storage solutions, helping eligible households maximize the full benefits of solar energy paired with storage.

Renewable Policy Adjustments

• Significant, no-cost investment in renewables: This investment is  available at no additional cost to ratepayers while offering long term benefits. This adjustment rolls the zero emission credits that supported the Clinton Nuclear Plant into renewables, an investment nearly as impactful as the 2021 Climate & Equitable Jobs Act. 
• Fixes Solar for All: Illinois’s signature low income renewable energy access program needed a number of small fixes to properly deliver benefits to eligible customers.
• Tightens wind & solar siting laws: Facilitates the construction of additional wind and solar projects.

Statewide Energy Planning

• Integrated Resource Planning (IRP): Directs Illinois state agencies to conduct a resource planning process every 4 years to anticipate the state’s capacity resource needs and propose cost-effective and clean energy procurement targets, subject to Illinois Commerce Commission approval. 

Saving Energy

• Electric and gas energy efficiency: Increases energy savings goals for ComEd and Ameren (bringing Ameren to parity by 2029 and roughly doubling its targets), strengthens gas utility programs by requiring major rebate investments in heat and water reduction measures, and prioritizes low-income ratepayers by tripling electric utility spending on income-qualified programs to 25% and requiring 80% of gas utility income-qualified funds go toward no-cost whole-home weatherization.
• Smart “time of use” rates: Requires ComEd, Ameren and ARES to offer customers smart opt-in “time of use” electric rates so that households can take full advantage when electricity costs are low.

Investing in Geothermal Energy

• Pilots thermal energy networks programs: Creates pilots for district geothermal projects, which can provide cost-effective, zero-indoor air pollution heat for blocks of residences.
• Creates the Geothermal Homes and Businesses Program: Allocates $10 million of the existing Renewable Portfolio Standard budget to geothermal projects for homes and businesses, with a block reserved for Equity Investment Eligible Communities

Muni/Coop Transparent Planning and Democratic Improvements

• Requires municipal utilities, municipal joint action agencies, and G&T cooperatives to undergo Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) to develop transparent, energy resource plans, with public participation and independent modeling analysis, that cost-effectively meet future resource adequacy needs and environmental compliance obligations.
• Improved transparency and democratic  participation requirements of distribution electric cooperatives: Requires a website for each electric cooperative with current bylaws, a schedule of all regular meetings with agendas and minutes, and voting and election processes, procedures, and timelines.
• Solar Bill of Rights: Ensures CEJA’s “Right to Self-Generate” for municipalities and rural electric cooperatives members by supporting member investments in distributed energy.

Air Pollution Protection at Data Centers

• Adopts standards of basic protections from the air pollution of diesel powered back-up generators at data centers, if it weren’t for a giant loophole that was added at the last minute. 

Nuclear Moratorium Repeal

• Repeals the nuclear moratorium that prevents new nuclear plants larger than 300MW from being constructed in Illinois (this was already partially lifted, allowing projects 300MW or less). The CRGA Act does not create funding for new nuclear facilities nor mandate their construction.

There’s More!

• Intervenor Compensation Fund Reform: ensures consumer advocates have financial certainty when accessing  funds created to support community groups participation in rate cases.
• Studies on Advanced Transmission Technologies, Transmission Headroom, and establishing an Illinois state-operated Independent System Operator.