Jean Gay-Robinson said she “cried tears of joy” when utility ComEd switched all the polluting gas-fired equipment in her Chicago home to modern electric versions, at no cost to her. As a retiree on a fixed income, she is relieved that she’ll likely never have to buy another appliance, her energy bills are lower, and her home feels safer. “I don’t have to worry about gas blowing up or carbon monoxide, that kind of nonsense,” she said.
Gay-Robinson is among the hundreds of people who have benefited from a provision of Illinois’ 2021 clean energy law that allows electric utilities to meet energy-conservation mandates in part by outfitting low-income households with electric appliances that reduce their bills — even though such overhauls actually increase, rather than decrease, electricity use.
Such policies are rare nationwide, but the approach could be a tool to help keep building decarbonization rolling as the Trump administration kills federal incentives for home electrification.
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