REC Contract Amendments

February 27, 2025

The IPA has previously shared information on the release of REC Contract modifications, which will be in the form of a REC Contract Amendment. The amendment is intended to implement the consumer protection initiatives and approaches described in Chapter 9 of the Long-Term Plan, including a REC adder for stranded projects and an escrow process. The intention of the stranded customer REC adder is to provide Approved Vendors with a financial incentive to take on projects. The escrow process is a consumer protection mechanism that allows incentive funds to pass from the utility through an independent third-party escrow agent before being distributed to the end customer.

Approved Vendors will be expected to sign the REC Contract Amendment within 45 days of receiving the amendment from Docusign. Any Approved Vendors who have not signed amendments within 45 days will face disciplinary action, and may face suspension from the Program.

What is in the Amendment?
The REC Contract Amendment will retroactively modify contracts to include:

Update to the deadline for the submission of Annual Reports under the applicable Program.
Creation of an un-batching and re-batching process to facilitate assignment of projects.
Implementation of an escrow process.
Provision of economic incentives for stranded customer projects. Contract amendments will also update the Exhibit A, Schedule A and Schedule B as applicable.

Please review the amendment documents linked below for more details:

Signing the Amendment:
The REC Contract Amendment will be sent by the Program Administrator via Docusign first to the utilities the week of March 24, 2025. There will be one amendment required per contract ID, so Approved Vendors may receive multiple requests to sign an amendment.

The amendments will be sent in Docusign. One Docusign request will be sent per contract ID, which means Approved Vendors may receive multiple emails, each one correlating to an active REC Contract. Signing order will be applied, which means the contracting utility will review and sign the amendment first and once that has occurred, Docusign will automatically email the Approved Vendor with a request to sign the amendment. This means the exact date when the Approved Vendor receives a Docusign request may vary. The Utilities will sign all amendments by April 11, 2025, so Approved Vendors should receive a request to sign on or before April 11, 2025. Approved Vendors will be expected to sign within 45 days of receiving the amendment, by May 26, 2025.

The request to sign will come directly from Docusign. The Program Administrator will route requests to the primary email address that the Program has on file for each company. If that email address does not reach the appropriate individual to sign the amendment, Docusign will allow the recipient to assign it to someone else to sign. Once the amendment is fully executed, Docusign will send a signed copy for record keeping. Additional details about the Docusign request will be shared the week of March 17, 2025.

What happens after the Amendment is signed:
Once the amendment is fully executed by both the contracting utility and the Approved Vendor, the Approved Vendor will receive a fully executed copy via email for record keeping purposes. The Program Administrator will track that the amendment has been signed and new Schedule A and B templates contained within the amendment will be used, as applicable per contract version and type. This will also update the Annual Report due dates for the upcoming 2024-2025 Annual Report.

If you have questions, please contact the Program Administrator at [email protected].

Thank you!
Illinois Shines Program
[email protected]