Backlog of incentive checks for installing solar panels - newschannel20.com

Backlog of incentive checks for installing solar panels | WRSP

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCCU) — What was supposed to be a money saver is turning into a bank account drainer.

People across the state are waiting on refunds after installing solar panels to their homes and businesses in an effort to lower their electric bills.

Champaign resident, Nichole Millage is one of them.

She made the switch to solar power back in March after making new additions to her home.
"[I] recently installed a pool and saw my electricity bill increase quite a bit," Millage shared.

It was a $40,000 project where she was promised $14,000 by the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) for making the change.

Millage was told she would have to wait on it but may take longer than expected.

"They had given me a timeline of three to four months, but they told me it could still take longer than that," Millage said.

In 2021, there were changes to the Climate And Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), which allows people to have solar panels installed to their homes and the IPA pays them back based on the size of the home and how much energy it would consume.

This is through IPA's Illinois Shines Program.

FOX Illinois contacted IPA and it responded with a statement saying how the organization went through a change in administration, which caused other areas to be impacted:
...the need to create a new portal and build a new, larger team, incentive payments have not been processed in as timely or urgent a manner as we’d hoped...

This lasted from July 1st to September 1st of 2022, and more than 2,000 families are waiting in line plus more who applied during that pause.

Founder & Owner, Michelle Knox, for Wind Solar USA in Springfield.

She said the administration switch is also in place for customer protection.

"It makes sure that nobody is 'patting each other on the back' or any kind of thing like that," Knox said. "We got somebody completely new that comes in"

Knox also added that not all clients are able to pay for their solar panel installation upfront.

The delay in incentive payment has caused some people to take out loans and be charged interest as they wait for their incentive checks.

Here's IPA's full statement and a chart of progress being made:
Illinois Shines and its Program Administrator, Energy Solutions, are presently working through a backlog in both approving solar project incentive applications and issuing incentive payments. With the transition to a new Program Administrator last summer, and the need to create a new portal and build a new, larger team, incentive payments have not been processed in as timely or urgent a manner as we’d hoped. But the incentive money is there, and the Illinois Power Agency and Energy Solutions have been working diligently to get it into the hands of applicants. For clarification, incentive payments go to customers through first being paid to the program’s “Approved Vendors” – generally, the solar development companies responsible for developing those projects. Those payments are authorized when a “Part II” application for a given solar project is reviewed and approved. As part of the Agency’s commitment to transparency, Energy Solutions has been tracking and documenting progress working down that “Part II reviewed” backlog through weekly reports, with progress outlined in the table below. As you can see above, what had been an 84-day wait for project application review is now 35 days, although certain cases – such as when an application is placed in “Need Info” status by virtue of missing necessary information – can take longer. We have committed to achieving a two-week turnaround on applications by no later than Fall 2023. To meet these timelines, Energy Solutions has added staff and improved the automated review process to make this goal possible. By quickly addressing and soon eliminating the backlog, we hope to strengthen the public’s trust and confidence in the Illinois Shines Program, as well as in the robust developmental goals of CEJA.