The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) has officially announced the launch of a “Solar Switch” program, which is designed to help homeowners install solar panels at a significant discount and reduce their electric bills by hundreds of dollars. Conceived in close collaboration with Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and Will Counties, as well as nonprofits CUB and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA), the stated initiative is basically a “group-buy” program, capable of securing volume discounts for quality solar installations, based on how many residents of those five counties, along with residents of Kendall and McHenry counties, participate. In essence, the effort selects installers through a competitive vetting process and then runs a reverse-auction to secure a low base-price. The whole effort is managed by iChoosr, a company that administers similar solar programs around the world. Operational in five countries worldwide, the company’s programs in energy and solar panels have helped more than 2.2 million people save more than $760 million. Talk about how the program in question works on a more practical note, it will basically get underway when Chicagoland residents are invited to register for the program at solarswitch.com/Chicagoland. Once invited, these residents are going to fill out a questionnaire to see if their roof is suitable for solar. Alongside that, they will also have access to free, educational webinars. Interestingly enough, to build upon the overarching objective, iChoosr had also previously organized a reverse auction, a process in which the traditional auction roles of buyer and seller are reversed. Such a setup meant that, for each auction, there would be one buyer, with the organizing company inviting only the qualified, pre-vetted solar providers to compete, offer the lowest bid, and win the participant’s business.
Coming back to the new program, it will have registrants receiving a personal recommendation, after which qualified installers will conduct remote and onsite roof assessments with those who accept the offer. The deadline to approve personal recommendations is set on August 21, 2024.
“As a consumer advocate, CUB wants to educate consumers and empower them to cut their utility bills, and the Solar Switch program does both,” said Marina Minic, Solar Programs Coordinator at the Citizens Utility Board. “The program gives consumers an introduction to the benefits of solar power, and it then connects interested participants to qualified, vetted and affordable solar installers.”
Finally, participants who review and approve their final quote will then schedule the installation. All installations, more or less, will be completed by March 21, 2025. Among other details, we must mention how residents who participate are expected to save an average of about $4,600 on a typical-sized solar installation. This projection is made even before taking in account the augmented benefits of federal and state tax credits.
Outside of iChoosr’s own expertise, the whole program is largely supported by the fact that CUB, MREA and the counties have already been involved in similar group-buy programs since 2019 where they helped more than 600 properties go solar, and educated an estimated 3,000 consumers about the science and benefits of solar power.
