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Updated Program Guidebook and Consumer Protection Documents for Program Year 2026-27 Released

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The Illinois Power Agency (IPA) has published final versions of the Program Year 2026-27 Program Guidebook, Consumer Protection Handbook, Distributed Generation (DG) and Community Solar (CS) Contract Requirements, and updated Stranded Customer REC Adder Categories. These documents conform with the Illinois Commerce Commission’s Final Order on the IPA’s 2026 Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan and other stakeholder feedback processes. Documents are published 45 days in advance of the start of the 2026-27 Program Year to provide transparency and time to review changes prior to the compliance period.

Program participants are required to be compliant with requirements outlined in these documents when the Program Year begins on June 1, 2026, and throughout the 2026-27 Program Year.

PROGRAM GUIDEBOOK
The high-level changes to the Program Guidebook include:

  • Increase in size limit for community solar projects from 5 MW to 10 MW AC in Section 1.E
  • REC Adder for all EEC category DG applications in Section 1.J
  • REC Adder for EEC category CS applications for “self-performing” AV in Section 1.J
  • REC Adder for Small DG customer-owned applications in Section 1.J
  • Small and Emerging Business designation for AVs in Section 2.J
  • Project Labor Agreement requirement for CS applications over 3 MW AC in size in Section 4.R
  • Updated Part I and Part II application requirements in Section 5
  • Opt-in batching for CS projects in Section 5.A
  • Relief for Abandoned Contracts in Section 6.E.
  • New combined MES Compliance Plan and Year-End Report in Section 7.J.
  • MES requirements for Equity Eligible Contractors in Section 7.J
  • Small distributed generation payment structure change to 50% upfront payment at Energization and the remainder ratably over the subsequent 6 years in Section 8.B
  • Updated Traditional Community Solar in Appendix E and Community-Driven Community Solar Scoring Criteria in Appendix F

CONSUMER PROTECTION DOCUMENTS
 The high-level changes to the Consumer Protection Handbook include:

  • Updates to Solar Restitution Program caps, in accordance with the 2026 Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan
  • Added definition of customer to clarify scope and applicability of various initiatives and processes
  • Modified requirements related to marketing of the Federal Investment Tax Credit, based on changes to federal policy
  • Requirement to provide periodic updates to CS customers when their assigned project has not yet been energized
  • Updates related to how Disclosure Forms are signed, including explicitly prohibiting sales agents from helping customers access email accounts and requiring sales agents to explain to customers how e-signed documents can be accessed
  • Prohibition on retaliation against customers for filing complaints with the Program Administrator

The Agency and Program Administrators are also updating Contract Requirements, including reorganization and reformatting of the requirements to increase clarity and flow, and clarifying requirements. The Stranded Customer REC Adder document lists the categories of stranded customers. The updated version makes clarifications to address inconsistencies and consolidates categories with the same REC adder value.

The current versions of the Program Guidebook, the Consumer Protection Handbook, and DG and CS Contract Requirements remain the effective versions of the documents until the new Program Year commences on June 1, 2026. Compliance with all changes in the Program Year 2026-27 versions of these documents is required by June 1, 2026.

Links to the updated document versions:

Stakeholders can find forthcoming, current, and past versions of the Program Guidebook, Consumer Protection Handbook, and other documents on the Program website’s Program Documents page. Comments received as part of the stakeholder feedback processes can be found on the Stakeholder Feedback page of the Program Website. The Program Administrator and IPA thank all entities that took the time to review and comment on the draft Program documents.

Thank you!
Illinois Shines Program
[email protected]