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Base Power Illinois Review (October 2026): The $95 Battery, 7.4–7.6¢ Supply, and the 3.48¢ Solar Catch
analysis10 min read

Base Power Illinois Review (October 2026): The $95 Battery, 7.4–7.6¢ Supply, and the 3.48¢ Solar Catch

Ryan Cook•

Base Power is legit. It's an Illinois-licensed electricity supplier (ICC License No. 26-0121) that launched in ComEd territory on June 24, 2026, and the pitch is simple: a 39.2 kWh battery installed at your house for $95, plus supply priced 25% below ComEd's price to compare on-peak and 27% below it off-peak. When ComEd's price to compare drops to 10.103¢ per kWh on October 1, 2026, that works out to about 7.58¢ on-peak and 7.38¢ off-peak. I read Base's Illinois supply, battery, and net metering agreements line by line. The price is the easy part. The 12-year battery contract, a ban on municipal aggregation, and a 3.48¢ credit for exported solar are what I'd want a neighbor to understand before paying a deposit.

Key facts at a glance

Item What the documents say Source and date
Supplier Base Retail, LLC, ICC-certified alternative retail electric supplier, License No. 26-0121 Energy Supply Agreement (v06012026-FM)
Launch ComEd territory, starting with Plainfield, Arlington Heights, Rockford, Joliet, Palatine, Evanston, Oswego, Mundelein Base press release, June 24, 2026
Battery 39.2 kWh Base Core, owned and operated by Base Base Illinois page, checked Sept 30, 2026
Install fee $95 for the first 2,000 installed homes (regularly $295) Founding Member terms, offer as of June 15, 2026
On-peak supply (7 a.m.–11 p.m., Mon–Fri) 25% below ComEd's price to compare, about 7.58¢ from Oct 1 (my math) Energy Supply Agreement; PTC 10.103¢, Oct 1, 2026–May 31, 2027
Off-peak supply (all other hours) 27% below ComEd's price to compare, about 7.38¢ from Oct 1 (my math) Energy Supply Agreement
Discount after the first 2,000 15% on-peak / 18% off-peak Founding Member terms
Supply term 24 months, renews automatically Energy Supply Agreement
Battery agreement 12 years Battery Services Agreement (May 4, 2026 version)
Early termination $500 if Base recovers the battery; fair market value if it can't Battery Services Agreement, Schedule
Exported solar credit $0.0348 per kWh Net Metering Addendum (April 24, 2026 version)
Where it's offered ComEd territory only; Base told CUB it wasn't yet available in Chicago CUB Q&A, July 22, 2026

What Base is, and how a $95 battery pencils out

Base doesn't replace ComEd. ComEd still owns the wires, still answers outage calls, and still sends you one bill. Base replaces the supply and transmission lines on that bill, the same two pieces any alternative supplier replaces, and prices them off ComEd's published price to compare.

The money comes from the battery. Base's own line is "Base earns from the grid, not you": it charges your battery when power is cheap and sends power back when the grid is stressed. The Battery Services Agreement also says Base, not you, is entitled to "any and all tax credits, rebates, incentives," and it names the utility's Distributed Generation Rebate specifically. ComEd pays $300 per kWh for an eligible residential storage device. On a 39.2 kWh battery, that's roughly $11,760, if it's paid at the full residential rate (my math, not a figure Base publishes).

That's not a trick. It's the business model, and it's the same battery rebate I wrote about in August. But it tells you whose battery this is. You're hosting Base's equipment, and your discount is your share of what it earns.

One small perk worth knowing: Base members don't pay ComEd's Purchased Electricity Adjustment, a monthly true-up that can be a charge or a credit. The state's Plug In Illinois site says it's expected to average near zero over the year, so I left it out of the math below.

The October 1 math on a real bill

Base's contract says your rates "will change when ComEd's PTC changes." Its website still listed the June-era 7.8¢ and 7.6¢ when I checked on September 30, but under the contract formula those follow ComEd's price down on October 1. Here's the supply line only, estimated for October 2026 through May 2027:

Monthly use ComEd price to compare (10.103¢) Base, founding rates (25%/27% off) Base, regular rates (15%/18% off)
750 kWh $75.77 $55.31–$56.83 (save ~$19–$20) $62.13–$64.41 (save ~$11–$14)
1,000 kWh $101.03 $73.75–$75.77 (save ~$25–$27) $82.84–$85.88 (save ~$15–$18)

Estimates. Ranges run from all-off-peak to all-on-peak use; excludes the Purchased Electricity Adjustment, delivery, taxes, and fees.

Twenty dollars a month is real money, and I won't pretend otherwise. But notice what it touches. Supply is one part of a ComEd bill. The delivery charges, the part that keeps climbing with every grid plan, don't move at all. Base's contract says it outright: it "does not guarantee that your total electricity bill will be lower." I keep current ComEd rates here if you want to check the numbers yourself.

Four lines in the contracts I'd read twice

1. The 12 years. The supply agreement runs 24 months, and you can leave it without a fee. The battery agreement runs 12 years, and it requires you to stay on Base's supply plan and its Net Metering Addendum the whole time. Leave either and Base can call it an early termination: $500 if it gets the battery back in good shape, or the battery's fair market value, "which may be upwards of $10,000 per battery," if it can't remove it within 90 days. Selling the house means 90 days' notice and a buyer who signs Base's assumption agreement before closing. Disputes go to binding individual arbitration, with the hearing in Austin, Texas.

2. No municipal aggregation. The battery agreement says, in so many words: "You also agree not to participate in any municipal aggregation programs." Plenty of ComEd suburbs run aggregation deals. If your town negotiates a better one in year four, joining it counts as an early termination. That's a real cost of the lock-in, and it's easy to miss because it lives in the battery contract, not the supply contract. (If you're weighing suppliers in general, I covered how alternative suppliers overcharge Illinois households.)

3. The "refundable" deposit. Base's Illinois page says to "submit a refundable deposit today." The battery agreement narrows that: once Base approves your property from photos, you have 48 hours to cancel for a refund. After that, "your Deposit, if any, becomes non-refundable." Both statements are true. Only one shows up on the sign-up page.

4. The discount itself. The 25% and 27% figures belong to the founding-member promotion, capped at the first 2,000 homes "measured by completed installation date." Signing up doesn't lock it in if the cap fills before your install. And the supply agreement says 27% off-peak in five places but "28%" in one. Make sure the percentage in your own signed copy is the one you expect.

The solar catch

Here's the part that matters most to anyone who has solar or might want it.

Under Base's Net Metering Addendum, every kilowatt-hour your panels export, and your house doesn't use, earns $0.0348. On ComEd's default service, a system installed after January 1, 2025 is credited for the supply portion of what it exports, and under net billing that's ComEd's supply charge: 8.413¢ from October 1. Base pays less than half. If your panels send 3,000 kWh a year back to the grid, that gap is about $148 a year at October's rates (my estimate). The addendum adds some delivery-rate credits for older systems on legacy net metering, but the 3.48¢ export credit is the same. Base says it plainly itself, in a statement the Citizens Utility Board quotes: "If you have — or plan to add — solar panels, switching to Base may cost you more than using ComEd as your supplier."

Energywell, the other battery-plus-supply offer in ComEd territory, doesn't allow solar at all. Customers with panels "at any time during the 15-year term" aren't eligible.

The bigger point is what each tool goes after. Base discounts the price of the power you buy. Solar cuts down how much you buy, and self-used solar power offsets delivery charges too, not just supply. Those are different-sized levers, and these contracts make you choose one of them for a long time. Decide the solar question first.

Who Base fits, in my honest opinion

I sell solar, so weigh my take accordingly. But Base is a good fit for some homes:

  • You own a single-family home in ComEd territory with a heavily shaded roof, or one that isn't suited to panels.
  • You want automatic backup, and a whole-home generator (Base's own comparison puts one at about $13,000) was never going to happen.
  • You plan to stay 12 years and you're fine skipping your town's aggregation deals.

It's the wrong fit if you have solar or plan to add it, might move in the next few years, or need backup for medical equipment. On that last point, the battery agreement says Base will "endeavor" to keep just 5 kWh in reserve and that the battery "cannot be relied on" for health-related needs. My battery sizing guide shows how fast a house burns through a partial charge.

If you're in Central or Southern Illinois, none of this applies to you yet. Base and Energywell are ComEd-only, and Ameren Illinois territory doesn't have an offer like this. There, the direct route to a lower bill plus backup is solar with a battery. A solar lease is $0 down with the battery included and a predictable rate as low as $0.10/kWh, on a 25-year term where the full rate schedule is set in your contract before you sign. Owning earns Illinois Shines REC payments over a 15-year contract. I lay out both in my solar battery backup guide.

Energywell, briefly

CUB's Q&A (July 22, 2026) lists Energywell's terms as: no installation cost, a $99 deposit refunded after install and your first paid bill, an EcoFlow OCEAN Pro battery of up to 40 kWh, supply 25% below ComEd's price to compare on-peak and 28% below from 11 p.m. to 4:59 a.m., a 15-year battery agreement with a five-year initial supply term, a $500 early termination fee, and a $15,000 non-recovered battery cancellation fee. I haven't reviewed Energywell's contracts myself, so treat those as CUB's figures.

Want to see how a battery deal compares with solar for your address? Run it through my savings calculator, call me at (618) 217-2001, or reach out here. Every number I show you is an estimate, but it'll be built on your bill, not a sales page.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Base Power is a real company, and its Illinois supply arm, Base Retail, LLC, is an alternative retail electric supplier certified by the Illinois Commerce Commission under License No. 26-0121. It launched in ComEd territory on June 24, 2026, starting with towns like Plainfield, Arlington Heights, Rockford, Joliet, Palatine, Evanston, Oswego, and Mundelein. The offer is a 39.2 kWh battery that Base owns and installs at your home for a one-time $95 fee for the first 2,000 installed homes, plus a supply rate set 25% below ComEd's price to compare on-peak and 27% below it off-peak. Legit and right for you are different questions, though. You're signing a 12-year battery agreement with a $500 cancellation charge, you agree not to join a municipal aggregation program, and any solar power you export is credited at 3.48 cents per kWh. Read all of the agreements before you pay a deposit.
My estimate is about $19 to $20 a month for a home using 750 kWh, and about $25 to $27 a month at 1,000 kWh, if you get the founding-member discount. Here's the math. ComEd's price to compare drops to 10.103 cents per kWh on October 1, 2026, according to the state's Plug In Illinois site. Base's contract sets its on-peak rate 25% below that, about 7.58 cents, and its off-peak rate 27% below, about 7.38 cents. That's roughly 2.5 to 2.7 cents saved on every kilowatt-hour of supply. Delivery charges, taxes, and fees don't change, because ComEd still delivers your power. After the first 2,000 installs, Base's help center says the discount is regularly 15% on-peak and 18% off-peak, which drops my estimate to about $11 to $14 a month at 750 kWh. Base's own contract says it does not promise your total bill will be lower.
You can, but the contract makes it expensive. Base's Net Metering Addendum credits every kilowatt-hour your panels export, and your home doesn't use, at a flat $0.0348, or 3.48 cents. On ComEd's default service, a system installed after January 1, 2025 is credited for the supply portion of exported power, and ComEd's supply charge from October 1, 2026 is 8.413 cents. Base pays less than half of that. Base itself, as quoted in the Citizens Utility Board's Q&A, says ComEd's net metering credits solar members at better rates than Base's flat solar buyback rate. Energywell, the other battery-plus-supply offer in ComEd territory, goes further: customers with solar at any time during its 15-year agreement are not eligible. These deals don't just pick your supplier. For most homes they settle the solar question for a decade or more, which is why I'd run your solar numbers before signing either one.
The supply contract has no termination fee, but the battery contract does. Base Retail's energy supply agreement says you can end it at any time without termination fees or penalties. The catch is the separate 12-year Battery Services Agreement with Base Power Development. That agreement requires you to stay enrolled in Base's Battery Time of Use plan and its Net Metering Addendum. If you leave the plan, cancel the addendum, or join a municipal aggregation program, Base can treat it as an early termination. If Base recovers the battery in the same condition, the cancellation charge is $500. If Base can't remove it within 90 days because of something you did or didn't do, you owe the fair market value of the original battery, which the contract says may be upwards of $10,000 per battery. Selling your house? You owe Base 90 days' notice, and your buyer has to sign an assumption agreement before closing.
Usually, for a while, but Base's own contract says not to count on it for critical needs. Base advertises 12 to 18 hours of backup at average usage, and up to 36 hours at low usage, from its 39.2 kWh Core battery. The Battery Services Agreement is more careful. Base and its operators will endeavor to keep at least 5 kWh in the battery, and the agreement states the battery cannot be relied on to provide backup power for any health-related reasons or other critical human needs. That's because Base uses the stored energy for grid services, which is how it pays for your supply discount. If a storm knocks out your line right after the battery has sent power to the grid, you could start that outage with far less than a full charge. If anyone in your home depends on powered medical equipment, plan for a backup source that you control yourself.

Related City Guides

Plainfield, ILArlington Heights, ILRockford, ILJoliet, ILPalatine, ILEvanston, ILOswego, ILMundelein, ILSouth Elgin, IL

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What changed June 1, what reset October 1, the ICC delivery increases that didn't reset, and your all-in cost per kWh.Illinois Electricity Rates Have Nearly Doubled Since 2021 — Here's What That Means for Your BillIllinois electricity rates have surged 90%+ since 2021. Here's what's driving the increases, what to expect next, and how to protect your household.Illinois Solar Incentives 2026: 7 Programs Worth $12,000-$18,000+Illinois solar incentives 2026: Illinois Shines RECs, the new $20/REC customer-owned adder, $300/kW DG rebate, battery rebate, net metering, and property tax exemption — worth $12,000-$18,000+ on an owned system. Plus no-cost Solar for All for income-eligible households.Solar Battery Backup in Illinois — What It Actually Powers and Whether It's Worth ItWhat does a solar battery actually run during an outage? How much does it cost with the $300/kWh rebate? Here's the honest breakdown for Illinois homeowners.
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