The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act Moves from Vision to Implementation

Last year, Illinois lawmakers passed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), a landmark law designed to make the state’s energy system more affordable, reliable, and prepared for the future. Signed into law in January 2026 and in effect as of June 1, 2026, CRGA established a roadmap for expanding clean energy, deploying energy storage, modernizing grid planning, and giving customers more opportunities to participate in the energy system. At a time of rising electricity costs, growing energy demand, and increasing pressure on the grid, the law created a roadmap for how Illinois can meet these challenges while continuing to build a cleaner energy system.

But passing legislation is only the first step.

Many of CRGA’s most important provisions require implementation through Illinois Commerce Commission proceedings, Illinois Power Agency planning processes, utility filings, procurements, and stakeholder engagement. Over the last few months, Vote Solar has been actively participating in these processes to help ensure the law delivers real benefits for Illinois communities.

Here’s a look at how that work is taking shape.

Lower Energy Costs and More Customer Control

One of CRGA’s central goals is helping customers play a bigger role in managing their energy use and lowering their electricity bills.

The law requires utilities to develop new time-of-use rate options that reward customers for using electricity when demand is lower and energy is less expensive. Utilities must file proposed rates within one year of CRGA’s effective date, and ComEd, the electric utility covering northern Illinois, just rolled out their supply+delivery time-of-use rate June 1st.

CRGA also includes important updates related to energy efficiency, demand management, and load flexibility programs, creating new opportunities for customers to save money while helping keep the grid running smoothly.

Another major component is Illinois’ first statewide battery dispatch program. This program will allow homeowners and businesses with battery storage systems to get paid for helping support the electric grid during periods of high demand. Over time, this effort will evolve into a permanent statewide virtual power plant program, where thousands of batteries, solar installations, and smart devices work together as community power networks to strengthen the grid while keeping energy resources local and lowering costs for everyone.

Implementation of the battery dispatch program is already underway and we expect the program to be available to ComEd and Ameren customers in mid-July.

Building a Smarter, More Reliable Grid

As electricity demand continues to grow and the way we use energy continues to change, Illinois needs new tools to ensure the grid remains reliable and affordable.

CRGA established Illinois’ first statewide Integrated Resource Planning process, creating a more coordinated approach to evaluating what energy resources the state will need in the years ahead. The process is designed to provide an integrated, long-term look at future electricity demand, resource needs, and customer costs while balancing affordability, reliability, equity, and emissions reductions. Importantly, the statewide IRP is a planning process, not a utility procurement process. Rather than authorizing the construction of specific power plants, it provides an integrated assessment of Illinois’ future energy needs and identifies cost-effective opportunities to expand clean energy, storage, and demand-side programs while informing future state energy policy. The process itself cannot result in the construction of a new fossil fuel power plant.

Stakeholder workshops began earlier this year and continue to shape the state’s first integrated resource plan. State agencies may also request reliability studies from PJM and MISO to better understand how rapid load growth, power plant retirements, and new clean energy resources could affect grid reliability and what additional investments may be needed to maintain a reliable and affordable energy system.

One of CRGA’s flagship achievements is its historic commitment to energy storage.The law establishes a pathway to deploy three gigawatts of energy storage by 2030 through a combination of utility procurements, customer incentive programs, and virtual power plant initiatives. This investment in storage will help reduce strain on the grid during periods of peak demand, improve reliability, lower costs for ratepayers, and enable greater deployment of renewable energy by storing clean energy when it is abundant and dispatching it when it is needed most.

Together, these planning and storage provisions help Illinois move beyond reacting to grid challenges as they emerge to planning ahead for the energy system of the future.

Bringing More Clean Energy Online

CRGA also expands Illinois’ ability to build and procure the clean energy resources needed to power the state’s future.

The law increases renewable energy procurement authority, expands eligible technologies, and creates new tools to encourage long-term clean energy development. Several of these changes have already been incorporated into the Illinois Power Agency’s 2026 Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan.

Among the most notable changes are expanded renewable energy procurement opportunities, new geothermal renewable energy credit eligibility, additional labor and equity requirements, and greater flexibility in procurement design.

CRGA also establishes a new Long-Term Clean Energy Procurement program designed to help Illinois secure stable, long-term contracts for clean energy resources. By providing greater certainty for developers and investors, the program aims to accelerate deployment while helping maintain affordable electricity costs for customers.

Illinois is also becoming a national leader in geothermal energy. CRGA creates one of the country’s first pathways for geothermal heating and cooling systems to generate renewable energy credits, opening the door for greater deployment of this clean energy technology in the years ahead.

More Transparent Energy Planning for Every Community

For the first time, larger municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives will be required to develop and publicly release integrated resource plans.

These new requirements bring greater transparency and accountability to long-term energy planning and help ensure communities have more visibility into how local utilities plan to meet future energy needs.

Implementation activities are already underway, with the Illinois Power Agency providing technical assistance to utilities preparing for compliance. The City of Batavia has already begun participating in the planning process.

The Work Ahead

One year after CRGA’s passage and months after its effective date, implementation is well underway.

The law’s many provisions may appear technical on the surface, but together they are working toward a common goal: giving customers more control over their energy costs, improving grid reliability, and bringing more clean energy resources online to meet Illinois’ future energy needs.

Vote Solar remains actively engaged in these proceedings to ensure distributed energy resources, battery storage, community solar, and customer participation remain central to that vision.

Passing CRGA was a major achievement. Now comes the important work of turning that vision into lasting benefits for Illinois families, businesses, and communities.