Clean Energy Organizations Respond to Illinois Manufacturers Association’s Misinformation on the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act

The CRGA Act would save Illinois families and businesses $13+ billion over 20 years

SPRINGFIELD, IL - The following is a statement from clean energy, environmental, and business groups and other experts addressing Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s misinformation about the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act.

Consumer advocates, clean energy, environmental, and business groups and other experts all agree: Illinois urgently needs more energy on the grid to lower electricity prices and create a welcoming environment for business investment. 

And yet, rather than offer viable solutions to lower energy costs, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA) simply offers fact-free criticism and unworkable proposals rather than support the only legislation under consideration that can actually reduce energy prices, the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act.

The CRGA Act is the only solution on the table to prevent endless future electricity price spikes. If the CRGA Act passes, it would deliver $13-$16 billion in savings to ratepayers over the next 20 years. It creates pathways to lower energy prices now and in the future for Illinois residents, businesses, and manufacturers alike. The bill deploys proven technologies like energy storage, virtual power plants, energy efficiency programs, and other policy structures that will help Illinois connect more energy to the grid faster as well as respond faster to energy demand. Analyses from the Illinois Power Agency and The Power Bureau, as well as the experience of states that have deployed storage at scale, demonstrate that the benefits of expanding energy storage kick in rapidly and quickly start lowering prices for all ratepayers.

The only proposal the IMA has made is to replace the well-tested incentive structures in CRGA  - structures that have proven to work in a deregulated state such as Illinois - with an untested and unlikely-to-work approach in which Illinois taxpayers would be financially responsible for the success or failure of privately developed energy projects. Their effort to point to Texas as a model for private financing is simply a distraction. Texas has a completely different regulatory framework, no capacity market, is not part of multi-state grids like PJM and MISO and, furthermore, has wildly variable energy prices that create vastly different incentive structures for developers.

What will truly harm and burden ratepayers is if Illinois does nothing and lets the historically high electricity prices climb even higher. The storage program in CRGA was analyzed by the Illinois Power Agency and found to generate savings two to four times greater than its cost.

The longer we wait to act, the worse this situation is going to become. As homeowners and manufacturers already know, electricity prices are too high and will be even higher next summer. The only solution on the table is CRGA. Illinois must act now.

Andrew Linhares, Central Region Senior Manager, Solar Energy Industries Association

Stephanie Burgos-Veras, Senior Manager for Equity Programs, Coalition for Community Solar Access

Lesley McCain, Executive Director, Illinois Solar Energy & Storage Association

Samarth Medakkar, Policy Principal, Advanced Energy United

Jeff Danielson, VP Advocacy, Clean Grid Association