How UX and strategic design thinking helped shape policy changes to protect solar customers in Illinois.
Illinois’ solar rebate program, Illinois Shines, incentivizes homeowners and businesses to install solar systems by receiving a monetary incentive, also known as renewable energy credits (RECs). This is a complicated program, with a lot of requirements for solar developers and a lot of information for customers to understand. In the program, customers receive their rebate as a passthrough payment from the utilities through solar developers registered in the program. Unfortunately, there are bad actors in the market who take advantage of the program complexity and ignorant customers which has left some customers without the financial benefits they were promised, creating distrust and financial risk in program participation.
As a strategy consultant at Viridis Consulting, I for our client, the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) to research best practices for a solar restitution & escrow processes in solar markets across the country, ensuring customers are protected from fraud and financial losses.
Role: Strategy Consultant, UX Designer
Duration: August 2023 - October 2023, March 2024
Frameworks: Market Research, Competitive Analysis, Design Thinking
My team’s recommendations were adopted in the program’s 2024 Long-Term Plan, strengthening consumer protections for Illinois Shines customers.
If this project had included a UX component, I would’ve designed an interface that provided more transparency to customers on the status of their project and streamlined the process of submitting disputes and receiving updates on their rebate.
Pain Points Identified:
My work at Viridis covered the following:
Key Insights
The primary gap was a lack of visibility and recourse for customers—because of the complicated program design, most customers didn’t fully understand the amount, timing, and who they would receive the monetary incentive from.
Additionally, most didn’t know where to turn when payments were missing. Even if customers filed a customer complaint, the program administrator’s customer protection team had limited resources and mechanisms to help make the customer whole.
Final Deliverable: A presentation to the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) with actionable recommendations. This included a financial risk analysis, recommendations for types of funding models, establishment and replenishment of the funds, and fund administration.
Impacts:
If UX had been applied, what would an ideal solution look like?
I propose three consumer protection solutions, each addressing a key challenge:
A centralized digital portal where solar customers can:
A digital tool where payments are secured in escrow and released automatically upon verification
I deep-dived into designing the Solar Customer Dashboard, since it provides a user-centered solution that aligns with and can be integrated into the program’s existing portal.
I mapped out the ideal user journey for a seamless experience:
1️⃣ Log in & view payment status (clear, real-time updates)
2️⃣ Report missing payments (easy-to-use dispute form)
3️⃣ Receive resolution status updates (transparency & accountability)
Strategic UX and design-thinking can drive policy impact – This project reinforced the power of user-centered design in regulatory decision-making.
Stakeholder collaboration and understanding best practices is key – Conducting thorough market research, and engaging with customers and policymakers ensured our recommendations addressed real needs and were feasible solutions.
Aligning business, tech, and policy unlocks scalable solutions – The Solar Customer Dashboard concept exemplifies how digital tools can bridge gaps between customer experiences and program administration.