Integrated Grid Plan
Learn more about our plans to invest in a more reliable, cost-effective, and prosperous energy future.
Proposed Grid Plan (2028-2031)
On January 20, 2026, Ameren Illinois filed its second multi-year integrated grid plan (2028-2031) with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), in alignment with Illinois state laws—the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (2021) and the recently passed Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (2026). The proposal seeks approval of programs and projects to guide the infrastructure improvements and customer program upgrades needed to manage the shift to cleaner energy sources while ensuring that always-on, reliable power is available to meet growing demand.
An Evolving Energy Landscape
Illinois' energy landscape is evolving. Ameren Illinois' 2027–2031 Strategic Energy Plan: The Grid for the Future is a disciplined roadmap for strengthening the distribution grid to support safe communities, reliable and resilient service, customer value, clean energy integration, and economic growth. The plan pairs foundational infrastructure hardening with smarter grid technologies, faster outage response, demand-side resources, and customer programs. Together, these investments are designed to deliver long-term value for the 1.2 million residential customers and 130,000 businesses Ameren Illinois serves.
This long-term strategy is designed to strengthen Illinois' competitiveness by improving reliability and resiliency, managing long-term costs, expanding customer choice, and preparing communities across central and southern Illinois for changing energy needs and economic growth.
Our Vision
Reliability and Resiliency
The plan bolsters the grid and calls for installing stronger poles and wires, performing data-driven preventive maintenance and adding distribution automation technology to reduce the frequency and duration of outages in the face of increasingly severe weather.
Careful Cost Management
The plan calls for executing prudent improvements to the grid in a way that contains operating costs, improves efficiencies and ensures always-on power is delivered cost-effectively to all customers.
Empowered Customers
The plan unlocks cost savings and environmental benefits for families and businesses. Along with energy efficiency and demand management programs, these tools provide customers with tools to reduce their energy usage and save money.
Economic Development
Through smart, cost-effective investments by Ameren Illinois, a modern grid will be equipped to serve new and expanding businesses and give Illinois a competitive advantage in the race to attract and retain job-creating investment.
Clean Energy Transition
The Ameren Illinois plan builds a flexible grid capable of meeting growing customer demand for energy from solar, wind and battery storage. It speeds interconnections to the Ameren Illinois distribution system and safely manages power flow from multiple sources.
Current Grid Plan (2024-2027)
On December 19, 2024, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) approved Ameren Illinois' multi-year (2024-2027) integrated grid plan — the Company's first approved plan under the new process established by CEJA. The plan outlines planned investments centering on maintaining safe and reliable service through modernization of the electric grid, replacement of aging infrastructure, preventative maintenance, and automation, while also directing more than half of the investments to benefit customers living in equity-eligible communities.
Frequently Asked Questions
An integrated grid plan is a requirement under CEJA, which is a 2021 state law that aims to move Illinois to 100% carbon-free energy sources by 2050. On January 20, 2026, Ameren Illinois filed its second multi-year integrated grid plan (2028-2031) since the law took effect.
The plan asks the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) for approval of programs and investments the company will make to strengthen the reliability and resiliency of the electric grid and prepare for an equitable transition to clean energy. Execution of the Multi-Year Integrated Grid Plan will enable Ameren Illinois to continue to deliver safe, secure, and reliable power in an equitable and cost-effective manner.
Illinois is at the forefront of a nationwide energy transformation as it transitions from fossil fuel energy generation to cleaner, carbon-free resources. Additionally, the electric grid that has reliably served homes and businesses for generations now faces new energy demands driven by factors such as the expansion of data centers, increased electrification, and growth of U.S. based manufacturing.
In order to facilitate this transition and allow for these growth opportunities, grid enhancements are needed to build a smarter, stronger, and more connected grid that unlocks the full range cost and energy savings benefits for customers.
The filing of the company's integrated grid plan will kickstart an 11-months long process at the ICC, in which stakeholders, customers, and interested parties will have the opportunity to offer feedback and input. The plan is likely to go through revisions before an official order on the proposal is given. An ICC final order is expected in December 2026.
The plan, if approved by the ICC, will go into effect January 2028.
As a delivery-only company, Ameren Illinois does not generate power, nor does it control the cost of electricity. The recent price spikes have been a result of supply and demand imbalances. However, we do have an obligation to ensure any new generation that comes online can be distributed to our business and residential customers safely and reliably. This plan will allow us to fulfill that need.
While this grid plan does not include rates, it’s estimated that the projects outlined in the plan would increase the typical monthly residential customer bill by about $5.00 annually starting in 2028, with similar adjustments in subsequent plan years. A separate rate filing will be made in January 2027, which will undergo a similar year-long review process and take effect in 2028.