How much ComEd and Ameren pay for your excess solar

If your system started operating on or after January 1, 2025, each kilowatt-hour you export earns a credit for the supply part of your bill. The value tracks ComEd's Price to Compare, which combines electricity supply and transmission. ComEd's Price to Compare for October 2026–May 2027 is about 10.1¢ per kWh, down slightly from 10.4¢ in June–September 2026. Prices reset every June and October, and the 2025 average was closer to 8¢.

Those credits don't include delivery charges, taxes or fixed fees, which are the rest of your bill. That's the main change from the old rules, when an exported kilowatt-hour offset the full retail price.

Ameren Illinois uses the same supply-only approach. Its residential Price to Compare for October 2026–May 2027 is about 10.4¢ per kWh for the first 800 kWh of the month and about 8.3¢ above that, down from 11.3¢ in June–September 2026, when a regional capacity auction pushed supply prices up across the state.

Check the current figure for your utility on the state's Plug In Illinois Price to Compare pages, linked in the sources below.

Your bill has two big parts: supply (the electricity itself) and delivery (the poles, wires and meters ComEd or Ameren maintain). Under the post-2025 rules, exports only earn the supply part, because you still use the grid to deliver that power to your neighbors.

In exchange, both utilities now pay a one-time rebate of about $300 per kW for new systems with a smart inverter, roughly $2,400 on an 8 kW system. Read more in how net metering works in Illinois now.

Power your home uses at the moment your panels make it never passes through the meter, so it saves the full price you'd otherwise pay, supply plus delivery. In Illinois that all-in price has generally run around 15–20¢ per kWh, close to twice the export credit.

• Example: a system that makes 10,000 kWh a year, with half used at home and half exported, saves roughly 5,000 kWh × 17¢ + 5,000 kWh × 10¢ ≈ $1,350 in the first year.
• The same system with 70% used at home saves about $1,490, which is why running daytime loads on solar pays off.

Try your own numbers in the Illinois solar savings calculator.

Credits for exported power carry forward on your bill from month to month, so strong summer production helps cover darker winter months. The Illinois Solar Energy Association says customers on the new rules can choose kWh or monetary credits and that these credits don't expire, but confirm how your utility handles the end of your annual period before you sign.

• Size for what you use. A system sized to your annual usage, not far beyond it, avoids exporting lots of low-value power.
• Shift daytime use. Run the dishwasher, laundry, pool pump or EV charger while the sun is up.
• Consider a battery. Storing midday power for the evening turns a ~10¢ export into a ~17¢ saving, and ComEd and Ameren offer a storage rebate of about $300 per kWh. See our Illinois solar battery guide.
• Ask for supply-only math. Make sure any quote models savings with supply-rate export credits, not old full-retail assumptions.