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Skokie highlights community solar options; MC Squared and NextAmp offering discounts
Summary
Village staff outlined two community solar subscription options available to Skokie customers — MC Squared (minimum 10% discount) and NextAmp (15%) — and explained how credits and billing work for subscribers.
Village staff presented community solar enrollment options to the board and public on Oct. 21 and urged residents to review legitimate programs rather than responding to unsolicited door-to-door solicitations.
Alex Franz, assistant to the village manager, explained that community solar projects allow customers to receive credits on their electric bills for generation produced by off-site solar projects. Subscribers receive a share of a project’s solar credits and pay the project developer a portion of the credit value at a negotiated discount; the remaining value reduces the amount owed to the utility.
Franz said two subscription options are available in Skokie: MC Squared (established program with a minimum 10% discount; earlier subscribers may have received higher discounts) and NextAmp (launched recently, offering a 15% discount). There is no sign-up cost and subscribers can cancel without penalty, he said. Franz noted that community solar does not replace the distribution utility — customers continue to take service from ComEd and should call ComEd for outage and billing issues.
Franz encouraged residents to visit the village webpage (skokie.org/solar) for more information and attend an informational session on Oct. 29 at the public library. Trustees discussed broader concerns including how community-scale projects sit in rural host communities and asked staff to be mindful of equitable benefits across regions.
