DuPage committee approves MOU to expand Switch Together solar program after members press for clearer mailer branding

The DuPage County Environmental Committee on Jan. 6 approved a memorandum of understanding with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association to support the Switch Together group-solar and battery program, after members pressed program partners to make outreach materials and mailers more clearly attributable to the private program administrators.

Grace, a representative of the Citizens Utility Board, told the committee the program has registered a little over 8,600 people regionwide and that roughly 2,000 had accepted offers and paid. She said about 740 contracts were signed and 578 installations completed across the program. For DuPage County specifically, Grace said there were just over 2,400 registrations, about 652 accepted or paid enrollments (including rollovers), and 185 completed installs in the county, plus roughly 20 battery installs and level‑2 EV chargers. She described those totals as program estimates and said a combined renewable investment for the group was roughly $4.7 million with household savings estimated at about $1 million.

"Number of registrations are a little over 8,600," Grace said, and she explained CUB's role alongside MREA and iChooser as program administrator — drafting materials, managing installers and customer service, and assuming program marketing costs.

During questions, Member Cindy Cahill objected to the use of the county logo as a return address on some mailers, saying constituents had contacted her confused by the appearance of an official county return address. "MREA is a private nonprofit, not a department of the county of DuPage," Cahill said, arguing the logo should be reserved for official county communications and that mailers should state they were "sent by MREA in partnership with the County of DuPage." Grace said CUB and program partners had heard the concern and had requested a different return address for the current round; she said the county would have final approval of communications under the MOU.

The committee moved and seconded approval of the MOU. A voice vote followed and the motion carried. The committee did not record a roll‑call tally in the transcript.

The MOU approval clears the way for the county to be an active partner in outreach while retaining approval authority over county-branded communications. Grace said the program will run additional sign-up windows and information sessions through 2026 for both solar and heat‑pump group-purchase efforts.

Next steps noted in the meeting: program partners will respond to the county about the return-address change and provide continued updates to county staff and the committee.