In an op-ed for Crain's Chicago Business, United's Samarth Medakkar discusses the passage of Illinois' Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), which will expand battery storage, facilitate more investment in renewables, and strengthen energy efficiency programs statewide, highlighting Illinois as a dominant and leading force in building a modernized, affordable, and equitable power grid.
When Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act today, Illinois became the first state to boldly and comprehensively address the energy cost crisis affecting every state in the nation.
By enacting CRGA, Illinois leaders recognized the continued growth of clean energy and battery storage is necessary to secure affordable electricity, create good jobs, and grow our economy.
The stakes for Illinois could not have been higher in the leadup to CRGA’s passage. Clean energy has been surging in Illinois in recent years, but the most recent federal budget (aka the “One Big Beautiful Bill”) weakened critical provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that supported clean energy growth. As a result, in Illinois alone, 15 major solar and storage projects were put at risk of cancellation, endangering thousands of jobs, millions of dollars of potential economic impact, and significant energy cost savings for all Illinoisans.
While we remain hopeful federal leaders will reconsider, these policy changes have in the meantime raised serious uncertainty for the more than 130,000 Illinoisans who work in the clean energy industry — a job sector that is growing at nearly 5 times the rate of the overall Illinois economy. CRGA provides clean energy businesses with a higher level of economic certainty, ensuring more investment in Illinois and allowing solar, storage, wind, and other clean technologies to retain and grow their workforce.
At the same time clean energy industries grappled with our future this summer, Illinois residents and businesses were hit with sharp increases on the “capacity charge” portion of their ComEd and Ameren bills, a result of our state lacking the energy supply needed to meet rising demands. ComEd customers endured a 45% capacity charge increase in summer 2025, and our state should brace for yet another price increase in summer 2026. Without legislators addressing the underlying energy shortage, cost spikes would have continued in perpetuity.
Thanks to our legislators and Gov. Pritzker who developed and passed CRGA, Illinois will be spared from the worst-case scenario for rising energy bills and slowed economic activity. CRGA is tackling Illinois’ energy affordability crisis with multiple solutions — and it’s doing so by embracing clean energy, knowing that clean energy leads to more affordable electricity, job creation in Illinois communities, and greater economic impact.
CRGA also builds upon Illinois’ proven clean energy foundation, serving as a successor to our state’s prior landmark energy bills, 2017’s Future Energy and Jobs Act (FEJA) and 2021’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), CRGA will create thousands of high-paying jobs and, according to Illinois Power Agency estimates, save consumers more than $13 billion on energy bills over the next 20 years, putting money back in families’ pockets and helping the state attract more business investments through reliable, affordable energy.
Solar paired with storage is far and away the fastest and most cost-effective energy source to build at scale, and it fits perfectly with and complements the hundreds of thousands of clean energy projects already built in Illinois through FEJA and CEJA. By investing in storage, the General Assembly and Pritzker have placed Illinois on the quickest, cheapest, and cleanest offramp possible from the cycle of annual price increases.
Storage projects not only create jobs and save consumers money, but they also deliver significant tax revenue to support local government functions like schools, city services, and public safety. To date, solar and storage have generated more than $11 billion in economic impact for Illinois – and just one large clean energy project has the potential to increase a property’s assessed value by millions of dollars in Illinois, according to research from the University of Michigan’s Center for EmPowering Communities.
CRGA’s storage investments alone would be a significant win for Illinois consumers and workers, but it doesn’t stop there. While storage is the fastest technology to build at scale, it’s not instant — no solution is — so CRGA includes other provisions to very quickly help bring down energy bills while storage projects are being constructed.
CRGA strengthens existing energy efficiency programs and also creates Illinois’ first Virtual Power Plant program. VPPs lower costs by pooling energy from smaller prebuilt energy sources, like Illinois’ 100,000-plus existing solar projects, electric vehicles, and small storage installations. VPPs can be set up in as little as one year, ensuring Illinois will quickly begin to lower energy prices.
Both of these solutions are well-documented to significantly lower costs. Texas’ storage infrastructure has saved residents $750 million since 2023, and Vermont’s VPP program saved residents $3 million during a single day of a heat wave in 2025.
No one is left out of the clean energy economy under CRGA. Legislators and Gov. Pritzker have demonstrated a steadfast commitment to ensuring that the state’s clean energy journey is focused on equity, uplifting historically disadvantaged communities and establishing programs that make clean energy accessible for everyone, regardless of income or location.
A robust clean energy economy means very little if disadvantaged communities cannot access the technologies and job opportunities available. CRGA abides by CEJA’s nation-leading equity requirements, ensuring all Illinoisans will benefit and that Illinois’ clean energy transition is felt across all income levels and geographies. Following CEJA, Workforce Hubs have been established across the state, providing career paths for people to quickly get to work building projects in their own communities.
Low-income households similarly continue to have access to clean energy through the Illinois Solar for All program, which helps income-eligible households, schools, and nonprofits install solar for no upfront cost. Although the federal government eliminated Solar for All funding, Illinois once again showed leadership by continuing to fund this program — and CRGA expands it with a complementary Storage for All program.
As an industry, we are incredibly fortunate to have leadership like in Illinois. Through CRGA, Illinois has reasserted itself as a dominant and leading force in building a clean, affordable, and equitable power grid. The governor and legislators have saved thousands of jobs, ushered in billions of dollars in economic development, and shaved billions of dollars off Illinoisans’ energy bills for years to come.
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