After passing through the Illinois state legislature late last year, Gov. JB Pritzker today signed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act.
As energy-intensive data centers expand and capacity prices spike further, Illinois is expecting to see significantly rising electricity bills for communities across the state. The CRGA Act addresses these challenges by strengthening the state’s renewable portfolio standard and ensuring that the state stays on track to meet its clean energy goals. By incentivizing new storage buildouts and VPP programs, Illinois communities will be better protected from rising energy costs and a strained energy grid.
Solar Powers Illinois — a partnership between the Illinois Solar Energy and Storage Association (ISEA), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), and Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) — released the following statement on CRGA being signed into law.
“Today, Illinois became the first state to pass comprehensive legislation to address the electricity affordability crisis as Gov. JB Pritzker signed the CRGA Act. CRGA is a critical step toward lowering Illinois’ rapidly rising energy bills over time while continuing to grow the state’s economy and clean energy workforce pipelines.
By investing in solar, energy storage, and virtual power plants, CRGA will save consumers $12 billion on electricity bills over the next 20 years, create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs across the state, invest in the Illinois economy, and help achieve Illinois’ goal of having a 100% clean grid.
CRGA will also strengthen opportunities for the nearly 6,000 Illinoisans who work in the solar industry and create new jobs in construction, manufacturing, sales and other positions for people entering the field.
This legislation cements Illinois’ national leadership in ensuring residents and businesses have access to an affordable, reliable, and clean power grid, building upon the legacy of previous landmark energy legislation including 2017’s Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) and 2021’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA).”
The CRGA Act includes requirements to add multiple gigawatts of battery storage to the grid, increasing consumer access to home efficiency rebates, increasing funds for low-income energy efficiency programs, adopting grid-enhancing technologies and reducing bottlenecks in the process to develop and improve transmission lines.
“By passing and signing the CRGA Act, Illinois lawmakers and Gov. Pritzker took decisive action for consumers and the state’s economy by recognizing the importance of energy storage and renewable energy for our collective futures,” said Jeff Danielson, Vice President of Advocacy for the Clean Grid Alliance. “CRGA solidifies Illinois as one of the country’s clean energy leaders, protecting the gains made previously by the Clean and Equitable Jobs Act and helping to manage the surge in electricity demand primarily from data centers. Together, these policies will positively benefit the state’s economy and provide significant relief for consumers in the process.”
CRGA is expected to save consumers at least $13 billion in electricity costs over the next 20 years according to an analysis from the Illinois Power Agency (IPA). The provisions contained in the law will also address the challenges facing Illinois outlined in the recently-released IPA Resource Adequacy Study Report as the state looks to solve reliability and power availability concerns.
Prior to the fall legislative session, Illinois consumers experienced a 20-25% price increase on their electricity bills in the summer of 2025 and the 2026/2027 PJM Capacity Auction results showed a record-setting price of $329.17/MW day, which means another substantial increase starting in June 2026. Clean Grid Alliance helped to lead efforts to pass CRGA to address these price spikes for consumers that were driven largely by increased projected demand by data centers and other expected developments.
