Gerald Jones used to pay hundreds of dollars a month for gas and electric service to his Chatham home.
With 23 solar panels installed on his South Side bungalow last year, he now pays $75 a month.
That savings is also the result of better home insulation and a switch to electric heat, eliminating the need for natural gas that contributes to climate change.
But the solar panels, funded with the help of a state program called Solar for All, are the game changer, he said.
“I tell everybody: Get it,” said Jones, a retired mail carrier. “You can save money and the environment.”
State officials were counting on more than $130 million in federal funding to expand rooftop solar and related programs for low-income residents, a plan that would help more people like Jones.
But President Donald Trump pulled that funding.
The federal money was going to significantly expand the program, in place since 2019.
For now, a relatively small number of customers have taken part in the state program — just over 2,700. But state officials and program advocates hoped to change that trend at a time when electric bills are soaring for Illinois residents.
“This program was all about saving people money on their electricity bills, particularly people and communities that haven’t seen the benefits of solar, which is the cheapest way and quickest way to get electricity built,” said Adam Kent, an expert with the environmental advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council.
Kent’s organization did an analysis showing Trump withheld more than $9 billion in promised money across the country for various programs intended to fight climate change.
The money for Illinois was canceled illegally, according to Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration. Under Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency said Congress recently gave it the power to end the promised money, setting up a likely drawn-out dispute.
The termination of the funding “lacks any legal basis,” and “will cause irreparable harm to Illinoisans,” Pritzker’s administration wrote to EPA last month.
Illinois electric utilities ComEd and Ameren offer tens of millions of dollars each year for solar subsidies, which are funded by charges on customers’ monthly power bills. The utilities will continue to provide money each year for rooftop solar assistance in Illinois, but state dollars may run out by the middle of next year.
The Trump move doesn’t affect a popular state program known as Illinois Shines, which provides incentives and has no income eligibility requirements. That program includes plans that allow people to earn credits on their utility bills by paying a monthly fee to support solar farms.
The expansion of rooftop panels through Solar for All helps all electric customers, according to ComEd.
The hottest days of summer stress the electric grid and drive up the price of electricity. So when people can produce their own power, it’s a savings for all customers, said Scot Vogt, ComEd’s vice president of strategy, energy policy and revenue initiatives.
In Illinois, Solar for All is intended to also help the state meet goals for clean energy and mitigate the impact of climate change.
It’s a pitch that appealed to Tekeyra Moore of Chicago Heights, who also participated in the program.
Moore said she worried about the health threats posed by natural gas. So she also cut off gas in addition to adding solar panels.
She said she definitely doesn’t miss gas bills that would rise above $200 a month during the winter. Her monthly bills are “now not even half” what they used to be, she said. “It’s a big savings.”
While Jones is pleased that he’s doing his part to help save the planet from climate change, he admits saving money while on a fixed income is an even bigger incentive.
“The main thing is saving me first,” he said.
Jones, who retired from the U.S. Postal Service 12 years ago, lives in the home his parents bought 70 years ago when it was newly built. He worked with Elevate Energy, the state’s program administrator, and ComEd to install the panels.
Asked about Trump’s move to cut the promised federal money, Jones shook his head.
“I think it’s terrible. I really think it’s terrible. God bless Donald Trump,” Jones said with a laugh.