How we source, verify, and correct every figure.
Every number on this site links to where it came from. This page explains exactly how that works — what counts as a source, how often we check it, what we refuse to publish, and what happens when we get something wrong.
We cite the original, not someone summarizing it.
Every figure on this site traces back to the agency, utility, or grid operator that actually publishes it — not a marketplace, a blog restating a press release, or a number we can't independently re-verify. If we can't find the primary source, we don't publish the figure.
| Primary — government & program | Illinois Commerce Commission, Illinois Power Agency / Illinois Shines, ilga.gov, IRS, U.S. EIA. Used directly for rates, incentive values, statutes, and federal rules — dated at the source. |
|---|---|
| Primary — utility & grid operator | ComEd, Ameren Illinois, PJM, MISO. Used for tariffs, program rules, and capacity-auction results. |
| Secondary — consumer advocacy | Citizens Utility Board (CUB). Used for bill analysis and consumer-facing rate explanations, always credited. |
| Not used as a source | Marketplaces, aggregators, manufacturer marketing pages, and uncited blogs. We may link to them for context; we never cite them for a figure. |
Every figure gets the same check — and some figures don't run at all.
Before we publish a figure
- Traced to a named primary source, with a date.
- Cross-checked against a second source where one exists — CUB's read on an ICC rate, for example.
- Labeled as a declared illustration if it's a calculation we ran, not a published figure.
- Reviewed against the source again at each update trigger below.
What we won't publish
- Live program capacity — like an Illinois Shines block status — without a same-day check of the official dashboard.
- Per-city or hyper-local statistics we can't independently source.
- Payback, savings, or ROI figures presented as anything but a declared illustration.
- An expired incentive described as currently available.
- Any claim of affiliation with a utility, government agency, or program we're not part of.
Dated at the page. Dated again at the figure.
Every extensively-sourced page on this site carries a last-full-review date and a changelog. Individual figures inside a page — a rate, a REC price, a statute citation — carry their own effective date, separate from when we last reviewed the page around them. A page can be reviewed today and still show a rate dated three months ago, because that's when the rate actually took effect.
Specific events trigger a review of the sections they affect:
- ComEd and Ameren Illinois supply-rate resets, twice yearly
- Illinois Shines program-year changes and updated REC prices
- PJM and MISO capacity-auction results
- New IRS guidance affecting federal solar credits
- New Illinois legislation touching solar, net metering, or property-tax treatment
The Day Company Editorial Team.
Every guide is researched and maintained by The Day Company Editorial Team, published at the organization level rather than under an individual byline, and checked against the sources above before anything goes live. When we get something wrong, we say so — publicly, with a date.
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