Strong Energy Efficiency Programs Won for Illinois Consumers  

While the federal government is canceling money-saving energy efficiency tax credits and rebate programs, NRDC partnered with consumer and environmental justice organizations, the city of Chicago, and Illinois attorney general and Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) staffers on four-year plan negotiations with the state’s investor-owned utilities (ComEd, Ameren IL Electric and Gas, Nicor Gas, and Peoples/North Shore Gas) to ensure they do their part to expand these critical energy bill–saving investments. All approved 2026–29 utility plans and stipulated agreements between utilities and advocates can be found on the ICC’s Stakeholder Advisory Group website. 

Consistently considered the key to our clean energy future and the lowest-cost energy resource, energy efficiency reduces household utility bills and energy demand, creates good-paying jobs, and reduces pollution from our buildings and strain on our energy systems. Since energy efficiency programs launched in 2008, they have demonstrated how critical more robust Illinois utilities’ investments are and how they can—and must—be improved.  

Although arduous, the 2026–29 energy efficiency plan negotiations toward settlement were successful in modeling that under inclusive and accessible energy decision-making processes, historic gains can be made to ensure clean and efficient technology investments benefit all—especially communities that have been disenfranchised by the legacy energy system.  

Key highlights of the approved negotiated portfolios 

• An increase in income-qualified (low-income) energy efficiency program investments by $25.4 million per year above their 2022–25 portfolio commitments and $41.7 million per year more than companies had first proposed to spend before negotiations began 
• Nearly $408 million per year invested in workforce training programs and initiatives to expand or launch new local and diverse businesses and community-action agencies in energy efficiency
• A significantly expanded focus for electric utilities on installing heat pumps for electrification and in affordable multifamily buildings with highly inefficient electric resistance heat (i.e., window units and baseboards)
• Sunsetting methane gas furnace rebates for higher-income residential Ameren customers after 2027 in light of federal appliance standards and focusing on building weatherization improvements for all Illinois gas consumers
• Increasing ComEd’s focus on all-electric new construction/gut rehab programming and Ameren’s new income-qualified electrification program for propane-heated homes

Other successful outcomes include greater investments into small business, commercial, and industrial programs; more robust health and safety budgets to address pre-weatherization issues like mold and roof repair; and improved data reporting metrics to better hold utilities accountable to the effectiveness of their programs. 

NRDC has estimated that through these programs, the equipment and building upgrades invested each year will, over their lifetime, save enough electricity to power roughly three million homes and save enough gas to heat about half a million homes annually. That’s the annual carbon pollution equivalent of 122,358 average gas-powered cars!  

But the work doesn’t end here 

The Illinois General Assembly is expected to gather during October 2025’s veto legislative session to reexamine Senate Bill 25 (SB25), a version of the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act that the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition introduced last session—which was blocked before a vote could make it law on the final day of session.  

SB25 makes critical improvements to the state’s electric energy efficiency program by increasing energy savings targets to 2 percent of total utility sales, introducing a goal to reduce peak demand on the grid, tripling minimum requirements for income-qualified investment, and increasing the amount of building electrification utilities can facilitate. 

Passing SB25 with its strong energy efficiency provisions will ensure that Illinois utilities continue to expand their efforts to reduce consumers’ utility bills, decarbonize our homes and generate less pollution, and ensure a more reliable grid for our future.