How does ComEd's virtual power plant program work?

A virtual power plant is a group of home batteries working together like one power plant. Rather than build new generation, the utility arranges for many homeowners to release small amounts of stored power at the same time. The U.S. Department of Energy describes it as linking many small energy resources so they act as one resource for the grid.

Illinois required this. The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), enacted as Public Act 104-0458 on January 8, 2026, directs utilities like ComEd to build these programs. ComEd's version is Rider SDVPP — the Scheduled Dispatch Virtual Power Plant.

Just want to know if this applies to your home? Jump to the 5-question checker — it reads straight from the filed tariff.

Next: which ComEd program people actually mean →

This is where most confusion starts. ComEd has more than one program that gets called a virtual power plant, and they pay different people for different things on different timelines. The battery program — SDVPP — is the one that starts in 2027. A thermostat-based demand response program has been running for years already. They are not the same thing.

If someone told you ComEd's virtual power plant is "already paying people," they may be describing Peak Time Savings or a thermostat program, not the battery program. Everything below is about Rider SDVPP — the battery one.

On Ameren Illinois instead? Check the next section first: your program has its own tariff.

Next: Ameren's version, side by side →

If Ameren Illinois is your utility, this page describes a tariff you cannot join. Illinois has two scheduled-dispatch virtual power plants, not one: ComEd filed Rider SDVPP and Ameren filed its own, both on June 1, 2026, both under the same state law, and both taking effect July 16, 2026.

The programs are near-identical. Same statute, same dispatch window of 4 to 6 p.m. on summer weekdays, same $10 rate, same five summers. Ameren's rider text is now posted in its own tariff library, and we read it October 15, 2026. It pays "$10.00 of Performance," and it measures Performance in average kilowatts, just as ComEd does. The real difference now is timing. Both riders name March 1, 2027 as a start deadline. ComEd is working toward a spring 2027 launch, the Citizens Utility Board reports. For Ameren, CUB says the launch is "still TBD."

If anyone quotes you an Ameren payment above $10 per kW a summer, ask for the tariff sheet. What Ameren has confirmed, and what it hasn't, is set out on how Ameren's virtual power plant program works. For the statewide battery-incentive picture across both utilities, see Illinois battery incentives, explained. If it's the bill itself you're trying to understand, that's why is my Ameren bill so high.

Next: how a summer of dispatch actually works →

Every summer — ComEd calls it the "Season," June 1 through September 30 — your battery is scheduled to send stored power to the grid on weekday afternoons between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. Central. ComEd measures what you send at your smart inverter, averages it across every hour in the dispatch window for the whole Season, and pays you once a year after the Season ends.

The name tells you the important part. Scheduled dispatch means the window is fixed and known in advance — the same two hours every weekday, all Season. It is not an emergency call-out.

Where ComEd measures matters. For a battery with its own inverter — no solar, or solar on a separate inverter — ComEd counts only what comes out of the battery's inverter. If the battery shares one inverter with solar panels, ComEd counts what that shared inverter sends out, solar included. Either way, it's measured at your inverter, not at your meter.

One wrinkle worth knowing before you sign: the tariff averages your injections across every hour in the Season's dispatch window, not just the hours after you joined. Join partway through a Season and the hours before you started still count in the denominator — which drags your average, and your payment, down for that first year.

"For Participants initiating SDVPP service after the Season has begun, but prior to its conclusion, SDVPP Dispatch Window hours before service begins shall be zero, and System Injections provided shall be divided by the total number of hours in the applicable SDVPP Dispatch Window for the entire Season, including hours prior to service initiation."

ComEd Rider SDVPP, Sheet 475 — Determination of System Injections

Next: what that adds up to in dollars →

Real money, sent to you once a year, for something your battery is already capable of doing. ComEd pays $10 for every kilowatt your battery averages during the 4–6 p.m. window, all Season — and that $10 is a floor set by state law, not a ComEd decision, so it can only go up from here.

Picture one 13.5 kWh battery — the median size for home batteries installed in 2025, per Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the size ComEd itself used as its example on October 12, 2026. Full at 4 p.m., it can send out 13.5 kWh over the two hours. That's an average of 6.75 kW, or $67.50 a summer. Most owners keep some charge back for outages. Hold back 20% and it's 5.4 kW, or $54.

A bigger power rating doesn't change that. A battery that can push 11.5 kW still runs out of stored energy in about 70 minutes, and ComEd averages over the full two hours. What moves the number is how much energy you can send: more storage, or less held back.

Why show 40 kWh? The two battery-and-power-plan offers sold in parts of ComEd's area install batteries of about 39 to 40 kWh. That battery belongs to the company, not you. The tariff lets a battery's owner be named to collect the yearly payment, so ask who gets it, in writing. Free home battery offers in Illinois, explained →

Have a quote in hand? The rebate page's three-step rebate tool runs your battery size, the eligibility gates and the commitments in one read.

Be skeptical of anyone who tells you this payment alone makes a battery "pay for itself" — it doesn't, and this program was never designed to. The larger financial pieces are ComEd's battery storage rebate — separate from the solar-only rebate if you're weighing both — and how your battery performs day to day under your rate plan. What the equipment actually costs in this state is on how much do solar panels cost in Illinois, and whether a battery makes sense at all is a separate question we answer separately: is a home battery worth it in Illinois? The state's fuller incentive picture — RECs, the solar rebate, net metering — is on Illinois solar incentives 2026.

Next: six things most pages get wrong →

Six things, and AI search summaries repeat several of them. We read ComEd's tariffs and the state law line by line. Here's what you'll often read, next to what the documents say.

Next: the one date that decides whether you must join →

It depends on one date most sources never mention. If you received ComEd's battery rebate on or after June 1, 2026, participation is mandatory. If you received that rebate before June 1, 2026, or never took it at all, participation is entirely your choice.

Retail customers "(a) are required to participate if they own or operate an eligible Energy Storage Facility that has submitted, and subsequently received, a rebate under the terms of Rider DG REBATE … on or after June 1, 2026; and (b) may choose to participate if they own or operate an eligible Energy Storage Facility that has: (i) never received a rebate under the terms of Rider DG REBATE; or (ii) submitted, and subsequently received, a rebate under the terms of Rider DG REBATE prior to June 1, 2026."

ComEd Rider SDVPP, Sheet 471 — Purpose

This matters most if you already have a battery. A homeowner who took the rebate in early 2026 is in a different position from one taking it now, and the difference is written into the tariff. The rebate's own dollar terms and application steps live on our ComEd battery storage rebate guide.

ComEd's revised rebate rules, which apply from October 19, 2026, spell out the same duty for both new kinds of battery rebate: one for a battery paired with solar (PSR) and one for a battery on its own (SSR).

"…a recipient of a PSR or SSR must warrant that any Energy Storage Facility for which such rebate is received, shall participate in the Scheduled Dispatch Virtual Power Plant Program offered under Rider SDVPP…"

ComEd Rider DG REBATE, Prerequisites of Service, item 9 — advance copy, effective October 19, 2026

Next: get your own answer in five taps →

Five questions, answered from the filed tariff. We don't ask your name. If you tap through to the free check, your answers go with you.

Next: the rate-plan rule that changes on October 19 →

Not from October 19, 2026. Through October 18, taking ComEd's battery rebate started two separate commitments of different lengths: five years in the virtual power plant, and a Qualifying Utility Product — Rate BESH, ComEd's hourly pricing supply rate, is one option, not the only one — for as long as you own the battery. ComEd's revised rebate rules drop that second one. The five years stay.

"The residential or small C&I customer associated with a qualified energy storage facility must take electric power and energy supply from ComEd under any Qualifying Utility Product, and agree to continue to take electric power and energy supply under a Qualifying Utility Product for the life of the energy storage facility, in order for such energy storage facility to qualify for a rebate."

ComEd Distributed Generation Rebate Terms and Conditions, 2026 edition — the rule through October 18, 2026

ComEd's rebate page names two ways to meet the old rule: hourly pricing (BESH) or Delivery Time-of-Day pricing (DTOD). If you took the rebate under the old rules, your paperwork carried that promise, and the revised rider doesn't say whether it still binds you.

The rate rule that's left lives in net metering

Since September 14, 2026, ComEd's net-metering tariff says a battery connected on or after June 1, 2026 gets net-metering credit only on a Qualifying Supply Product: hourly pricing (BESH), ComEd's time-of-use rate (BEST) or a supplier's time-of-use plan. The same update lets a battery paired with solar charge from the panels, the grid or both. This applies whether or not you take the rebate.

"…this rider, as it relates to a retail customer who operates an Energy Storage System that is interconnected on or after June 1, 2026, is only available to retail customers that obtain supply service under a Qualifying Supply Product."

ComEd Rider POGNM, Sheet 294 — Applicability, effective September 14, 2026

Hourly pricing is not automatically bad — Rate BESH specifically is the same rate that lets solar credits offset an entire ComEd bill, delivery charges included, which we explain in ComEd net metering. The full hour-by-hour mechanics, including a documented $0-bill month, are on our ComEd Hourly Pricing + solar page — worth reading before you pick a time-based rate, since hourly prices move with the market. And whichever rate you land on, what a ComEd bill actually looks like after solar — fixed charges included — is worth seeing before anyone promises you otherwise. Ask ComEd to name every option in writing before you accept a rebate.

Next: what the contract asks of you →

More than a payment arrangement. Under the filed tariff, a participant agrees to change how the battery operates, to give ComEd access to the battery and its smart inverter data, to keep the battery physically in place for the full term, to prioritize this commitment above any conflicting one, and to indemnify ComEd in two specific ways.

• Five years, defined precisely. The Program Term is a five-year period. Start partway through a Season, and it's that partial Season plus the four complete Seasons after it. The tariff adds that a 5-year term applies "unless otherwise directed by law, including any statutory requirement to transition to a subsequent tariff."
• The battery stays put. It "must be fixed in place on the Customer premises for a period of time not less than the SDVPP Program Term."
• Mode of operation changes. You agree to modify how the battery operates so it dispatches during the window, and to provide access to the facility and smart inverter data.
• This commitment outranks your others. Participants "have agreed to prioritize their System Injection commitment(s) under this tariff over any other potentially conflicting commitment(s)."
• You indemnify ComEd twice — against liability for personal injury or property damage arising from the interconnection or operation of the battery, and against liability for inaccuracies in your warrant that you're entitled to use the smart inverter functionality.
• No double-dipping. You can't have already committed the same injections to someone else, and ComEd may reduce your credited amount if you're paid by another grid-services program in the same hours.

None of that makes the program a bad deal. It does mean it's a contract, and it deserves to be read like one.

Next: whether you can get out →

Only if you joined voluntarily. The tariff gives an exit right specifically to participants who are not obligated by the rebate — they can notify ComEd, and termination takes effect December 31 of the year notice is given. For participants who are in because they took the rebate, the rider states no exit right at all.

"Notwithstanding the requirement for a Participant to participate for 5 years, a Participant not obligated to participate as a condition of compensation under Rider DG REBATE has the right to notify the Company of the Participant's intent to terminate service hereunder. Termination of participation in the SDVPP Program by such Participant pursuant to such notice will take effect on December 31 of the year in which notice has been provided to the Company. Such Participants may apply for participation in the SDVPP Program at any time after such termination."

ComEd Rider SDVPP, Sheet 476 — Miscellaneous General Provisions

Two things the tariff does not say, which we won't guess at: there is no monetary exit penalty anywhere in Sheets 471–476 — the only dollar figure in the rider is the $10/kW-Season rate — and there is no provision addressing what happens if you sell the house or move. Ask ComEd directly, in writing, before committing.

Separately, ComEd can remove a participant immediately if it determines the participant intentionally interfered with the battery so that it misreports dispatch.

Next: four lines in the tariff nobody mentions →

Four provisions sit in the filed rider that we haven't seen covered anywhere else. None is a scandal. All four change how the program actually feels to live with, and all four are worth knowing before a five-year commitment.

• ComEd can tell you to stand down — and you don't lose credit. On a bypass notification you'll be asked to bypass your injection commitment "without incurring any reduction to the calculated value of System Injections provided for the applicable Season." That's in your favor.
• You can't stack paid grid programs in the same hours. If you're being compensated by another grid-services program during the dispatch window, ComEd "reserves the right to reduce the Participant's respective Load Reductions to prevent double counting."
• Joining mid-Season costs you. Your injections are divided by the whole Season's dispatch hours, including the ones before you enrolled.
• Interruption liability sits with you. The rider states ComEd "is not liable for any damage or injury, including any consequential damage, resulting from the intentional or unintentional interruption of electric service provided to a Participant."

On backup power specifically: the rider says nothing about islanding, reserve capacity, or your ability to use the battery during an outage. The closest thing to an answer is the priority clause above. That's a real unanswered question, and it's the right one to put to ComEd before you enroll.

Two more gaps, outside those four: ComEd hasn't named the company that will run sign-ups (the rider calls it the "Program Administrator"), and the first public count of how many homes joined is due in ComEd's report to the ICC by December 31, 2028.

Next: who can join →

Any ComEd customer with an eligible battery behind their meter, interconnected through a qualifying smart inverter, can participate — with or without solar. There's no minimum size requirement on the amount you commit. Customers on Rider NAM — ComEd's rate for customers without a smart meter — are excluded outright.

"SDVPP qualifying devices include an Energy Storage Facility which is fixed in place, for a period of time not less than the SDVPP Program Term, and may be associated with a Distributed Electric Renewable Generating Device."

ComEd Rider SDVPP, SDVPP Qualifying Devices — Ill. C.C. No. 10, 2nd Revised Sheet No. 475, effective July 16, 2026

Read the operative word: may. A standalone battery — no solar attached — qualifies for this program, and the tariff never asks whether you have panels. What a standalone battery couldn't get before was the rebate. From October 19, 2026, it can: ComEd's revised rules add a $300-per-kWh rebate for a battery without solar, with applications from January 1, 2027, covered on the ComEd battery storage rebate page. And the charging rules differ by route: since September 14, 2026, a battery paired with solar may charge from the panels, the grid or both, while a battery without solar charges from the grid — the three lanes to a ComEd battery, side by side.

• Smart inverter required. The tariff defines it as a device converting DC to AC that meets IEEE 1547-2018; until such devices are available, UL 1741 (SA) devices are acceptable. It must conform to the Required Smart Inverter Settings section of Rider DG REBATE.
• No minimum commitment. The participant agreement "contains the committed System Injections for the SDVPP Program Term, as identified by the Participant. There is no minimum commitment required." That refers to how much you commit — not to whether the term is optional.
• One agreement per premises. You may have more than one battery, but only one participant agreement covering all of them at a given premises.
• Someone else may collect the payment. Where the battery is owned by an entity other than the participant, the tariff allows that "Project Owner" to be designated as the recipient of the annual compensation. The tariff does not use the words "lease," "leased," or "third-party" — so if your battery isn't yours outright, get the payment arrangement in writing. How ownership changes the money: lease vs. buying →

On Ameren Illinois? Its program has its own tariff and the same $10 rate: ComEd vs. Ameren, side by side.

Next: where to read the tariff yourself →

On ComEd's own website, now. ComEd's battery rebate page links a stamped copy of the June 1, 2026 filing, and the rider also sits in ComEd's 2026 ratebook as Sheets 471 to 476. It's the same document as the Illinois Commerce Commission's copy, filing 399541, where we first read every quote on this page.

• ComEd's stamped copy: Rider SDVPP filing (PDF), linked from ComEd's rebate page
• ComEd's 2026 ratebook: the full Schedule of Rates (PDF), PDF pages 700 to 705
• The state's copy: ICC filing 399541 (PDF)

That matters in a sales conversation. If a rep summarizes the program, ask for the sheets — Rider SDVPP, 2nd Revised Sheets 471 through 476 — rather than a description of them. The filing is linked in Sources; it runs six pages and takes about fifteen minutes to read. Anything you're told that isn't on those pages is either from the rebate terms — a different document, also linked below — or isn't published yet.

Next: what a sales rep's VPP pitch should sound like →

The program is real, approved, and written into a filed tariff. But it isn't open, the payment is modest by law, and some of what's being repeated in the market is either out of date or describes a different program entirely.

What homeowners tell us they've heard: that a battery "could earn thousands a year," that VPP payments make a battery "pay for itself," or that you "can enroll now."

What the filed tariff actually says: the rate is $10 per kW-Season. Service begins no later than March 1, 2027, and enrollment is not open. And if you take the battery rebate on or after June 1, 2026, joining isn't a perk you opt into — it's required.

A note on dates you may see elsewhere: the 2026 law required ComEd to establish a program by mid-2026, which several sources have repeated as though it were an enrollment date. It isn't. Establishment happened; enrollment hasn't.

Before you sign anything: get every earnings or savings claim in writing — including any mention of an Illinois state solar tax credit, which does not exist. Get more than one quote, and vet the one in your hand — if the loan price runs above the cash price, that gap is a dealer fee. Check that the company is registered with Illinois Shines — here's exactly how to verify one in under five minutes. And know where to go if something feels wrong.

Separately, a newer kind of offer has appeared in ComEd territory that bundles a home battery with a non-utility electricity supply plan, sometimes described as a virtual power plant. These are not ComEd's SDVPP program and operate on entirely different terms — the battery agreements run 12 to 15 years, and both restrict or discourage adding rooftop solar. We compare both from their own contracts on free home battery offers in Illinois, explained, and the Citizens Utility Board has published a neutral Q&A of its own.

Next: every date on the way to sign-up →

Not yet. What's confirmed: the compliance tariff was filed June 1, 2026 and took effect July 16, 2026, and service must begin no later than March 1, 2027. ComEd announced regulatory approval on June 30, 2026. What isn't published is when and how you'll actually sign up.

Next: should you wait for it? →

No — and the two decisions are less connected than they look. The virtual power plant is a modest annual bonus attached to a battery, not a reason to own one. Nothing about the program rewards waiting. Three things about waiting do have a measurable cost, and all three are documented rather than asserted.

1. 1
   Illinois Shines blocks can close mid-year, and they have.

   The renewable energy credit payments are the largest incentive still standing for Illinois homeowners after the federal residential credit expired December 31, 2025. But the program's small distributed generation category is capacity-limited, and in the 2024-25 program year the Illinois Power Agency reports that capacity was fully utilized by May 6, 2025 — weeks before the program year ended. Blocks reopen each year. Availability across a whole one is not guaranteed. The 2025-26 pool didn't fill, and the 2026-27 pool opened June 1, 2026 with 236.71 MW; no closure had been announced as of October 9, 2026. How Illinois Shines pays →

2. 2
   The rates you're paying now don't ease for years.

   PJM's July 2026 capacity auction cleared at $325 per MW-day, at the FERC price cap for the third consecutive time, covering June 2028 through May 2029. That cost flows into ComEd's supply rate — the current figure and the next scheduled reset are tracked on ComEd's October 2026 rate reset page, and the arithmetic behind why it's elevated is on why is my ComEd bill so high. Every month spent deciding is a month bought at those prices. The statewide picture is on the Illinois electric rate tracker.

3. 3
   The lead time is months, not days.

   Design, permitting, installation and ComEd interconnection all sit between a decision and a working system. ComEd's own application form says its Level 1 review "takes approximately 3 weeks after a complete form is received," and city permitting adds more — in Chicago, considerably more, as Chicago solar permits sets out, and Aurora prices its permits off project valuation, a wrinkle of its own. Start in the spring, and summer can arrive before your system is running.

Next: how to be battery-ready before launch →

You can't enroll yet, but the equipment path is already defined: a battery behind your meter, interconnected through a smart inverter meeting ComEd's required settings. That's the same equipment standard as the battery rebate, so a qualifying installation now will already meet the requirement when enrollment opens.

• A battery fixed in place behind your ComEd meter, for at least the five-year term.
• A smart inverter that meets IEEE 1547-2018 (or UL 1741 SA), set to ComEd's required settings.
• A smart meter. Customers on Rider NAM can't join.
• Your rebate date in writing, if you took one. It decides whether joining is required.
• Who owns the battery, and who collects the yearly payment.
• How much charge you'll hold back for outages. More backup means a smaller payment.

There's no published deadline on the program itself. There is a real clock on everything else, for the reasons set out above. If you want to know whether a battery makes sense for your home at all, a free eligibility check takes about a minute and will tell you if it doesn't.

Rider SDVPP

The filed ComEd tariff that creates the Scheduled Dispatch Virtual Power Plant. "Rider" just means an add-on set of rules attached to ComEd's main rate schedule.

Season

June 1 through September 30 of a calendar year. Dispatch only happens inside the Season.

SDVPP Dispatch Window

4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Central, Monday through Friday, during the Season. Community supply projects get 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

System Injections

The power your battery sends to the grid during the dispatch window, measured in kilowatts at your smart inverter and averaged across every hour of the window for the Season.

kW-Season

The unit ComEd pays on. One kilowatt of average injections across a full Season earns $10.

SDVPP Program Term

Five years. Start partway through a Season, and it's that partial Season plus the four complete Seasons after it.

Qualifying Utility Product

The ComEd time-based rates that met the battery rebate's life-of-facility rule through October 18, 2026, such as hourly pricing (BESH). ComEd's revised rebate drops the rule from October 19.

Qualifying Supply Product

A time-based supply plan: ComEd's hourly pricing (BESH), its time-of-use rate (BEST) or a supplier's time-of-use plan. A battery connected on or after June 1, 2026 needs one for net-metering credit.

Rate BESH

ComEd's hourly-priced supply rate. Not required by the VPP program itself.

Rider NAM

ComEd's rate for customers without a smart meter. Customers on it cannot join the VPP.

Project Owner

The entity that owns the battery when that's someone other than the participant. May be designated to receive the annual payment.

CRGA

The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, Public Act 104-0458, enacted January 8, 2026 — the law requiring Illinois utilities to build these programs.

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