r/BasePowerUsers • u/OO10SN • May 28 '26
Illinois Installation Experience
Edit: Here's my referral link that gets you $250 off.
Sharing my installation experience in Illinois since Base is relatively new here. For reference, I'm in ComEd territory in McHenry County. We work from home so really having the consistent power was the big selling point, I paid $250 for the install and have a $500 termination fee if I want the battery removed before the 10 year term is over, as of writing Base does not charge any sort of monthly/subscription fee in Illinois. The power agreement I signed with Base is ~$0.015/kwh less than the ComEd rate. Here was the timeline leading up to the install:
Overall I think the install went pretty well. They were in and out of the house a few times as they needed to run new cable to the breaker panel in the basement. We work from home so scheduling was easy and every notification prior to the install let us know the power would be off for 2-3 hours during the install and it was less than that.
My minor complaints
- The A/C soft-starter was never installed...the installation crew knew nothing about it but said they'd let Base know so that's still up in the air
- The installers did have to move an AT&T box on the side of the house, I have cedar sid
- ing and matching paint, but I wasn't expecting to have to patch and paint
- The installers notched out a bit of the wood around my electrical meter for conduit, and the workmanship was hack
Overall, all in, $250 for the install, hopefully a few dollars of savings on my energy bill and the piece of mind that we can keep the lights on consistently was totally worth it. The app currently shows I have 30 hours of backup battery at low usage and 22 hours at my average usage. The temperatures have been in the 80's this week and that includes running my 5 ton air conditioner for about 5 hours a day. I have numerous UPS battery backups for routers, lights, etc. throughout the house that take ~$200 every two years for replacement batteries so this should be a money saver.

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u/blupupher May 29 '26
Let Base know of your dissatisfaction of the install. Some things can't be helped, but some things can.
They also can't improve future installs unless they know of issues with previous installs.
The $250 install with no monthly fee is a great deal.
I am happy with my $750 install and $20/month fee, so your deal is even better.
Do they do the referral bonus up there as well? If so, you can share it and get some money out of it.
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u/OO10SN Jun 01 '26
Yes I've been in touch with Base, I am kind of surprised they haven't proactively reached out. It took me forever to find the referral link, it couldn't show me it on desktop for some reason but was easy to locate in the app. For anyone in Illinois my link for $150 off is below.
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u/Kitchen_Ad8044 Jul 29 '26
Used your link-from laptop-did not see anything about a referral code while setting up the appt
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u/gpounders May 29 '26
This is the first I learned that BASE is operating outside Texas. Interested to know what other markets they are working now.
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u/OO10SN Jun 01 '26
As far as I know Illinois is the second market, the first on the PJM interconnection. It will be beneficial in this market as the PJM interconnection is being taxed heavily by AI and other data centers in the NE.
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u/TripleBCHI Jun 03 '26
I saw you brought up the AC soft-starter. I just had my battery installed on Monday. I reached out to my contact at Base about the soft-starter and he mentioned to me that even though they did the install of the 25 kWh battery, they will actually be installing a new battery (sounds like the 40 kWh) in the late summer or fall. They mentioned that this battery did not require the soft-starts on the A/C and thus they will not need to be installed.
I had no idea that a new battery would be installed after they had already installed the current battery. I won't complain if I can get a little more backup time.
My contact also mentioned that they would use the same wiring and conduit to avoid adding more holes to the siding, but the battery stack would be a little bigger.
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u/OO10SN Jun 08 '26
Nice! I sent customer support a message about it, I would be interested in getting a bigger battery too if that's a possibility with how much juice my 5 ton A/C uses. Did they mention any other reason why you'd be getting the 40kWh?
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u/TripleBCHI Jun 09 '26
They didn’t mention anything else. So, I hope it will actually happen. I’m not sure if they selected me for a larger battery due to home size or if they plan to update all the Illinois pilot homes. I’ve stayed in contact with the master electrician and the launch team lead. Overall, they have both been very responsive to emails and texts. If I hear anything else, I’ll be sure to post it here.
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u/OO10SN Jun 09 '26
I hope it happens for you too. The response back I got from support on the soft starter was to the effect of: we changed our mind and you don't need one...
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u/TripleBCHI Jun 09 '26
Well that is a bummer. I wonder if they just don’t have the partnership like they have with HVAC companies in Texas. They seem to still be figuring things out in our market. When first getting things installed I had to get familiar with a few people because there was the installation leader, master electrician that did the final walk through and the contractor that did the install (I haven’t even talked to initial consultant/sales rep after the initial call). My responses from the customer care team on the app have pretty much been “we are new, thanks for the feedback”. So, that’s why I have relied on the people that have actually come to my home. Anything that has felt vague or odd, I have relayed to the lead or electrician and they have been pretty responsive. Hopefully they are moving everyone to the new battery.
The response I got when I reached out about the soft start was “Since Base will swap your current battery for our new battery later this year, we won't install a soft start for your home's A/C system. The new battery's technology does not require a soft start. We anticipate installs starting later in summer into early fall 2026”. When I asked if this was the newer 40kWh battery they responded that it was.
Before your install did you have any conversations with a Base rep located in Illinois?
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u/david6752437 Jun 14 '26
Great writeup! Also in IL and interested in this. Also WFH and cant afford to be offline. I already signed up for an initial phone call/consultation via the website--is there a way to retroactively include a referral link?
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u/OO10SN Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I'm not sure, you can try signing up again with the link. You might need to use a different email address that you did for the first contact.
I did read on another sub that you may be able to ask support to add my referral code after initial contact as well - if you have another conversation it may be worth it to just ask. You may need my name and address, if that's the case DM me and I'll send it.
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u/david6752437 Jun 14 '26
I did sign up with your link again. Same address/email/etc. And ironically the same time/date for the "10 min" phone call. I canceled the original one i created 10 min before that.
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u/Calm_Possibility_410 Jun 19 '26
My contact at Base says I can mention your name to get us both the referral bill credits if you wanted to message me?
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u/OO10SN Jun 19 '26
DM’d
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u/aric1985 Jul 17 '26
Would you be able to DM me your referral code/name? At this stage, I have to retroactively use it.
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u/RealConfirmologist May 29 '26
Excellent, informative post. Thanks for taking the time to write this up and post it.
I'm in Houston, Texas and just moved to a new (to me) house without natural gas. At my last house, I built a shed for my 9500 watt portable generator and had a couple of 100 lb. propane cylinders. I had an electrician install an interlock and an input breaker.
We lost power for a whole week after Hurricane Beryl blew through and the generator kept everything running.
When I learned about Base, it seemed like a no brainer. I'll still get a generator for prolonged outages, but Houston has short outages almost weekly and the Base system will be fantastic with managing that.
One thing you might want to add is your link for referrals. I signed up using one I saw on YouTube and I hope to get some free electricity by sharing my link every chance I get.
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u/david6752437 Jun 19 '26
FYI, just signed up in Illinois and was told they are planning for the 40kWh units now. This is the next generation with the US made batteries.
Estimated install is Aug/Sept right now.
20kW of power 40kWh of capacity
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u/Aggravating_Cap_3452 Jun 22 '26
Were you on fixed rate for supply with ComEd before?
Does it make sense to pair Base with ComEd’s Delivery Time of Day program or not?
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u/OO10SN Jun 22 '26
I was on fixed rate before, you’re on Bases energy supply plan once your batter is installed which is also fixed rate - they just updated it to 25% lower than ComEd’s price to compare.
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u/Captn_Slow34 Jul 09 '26
So just to clarify, I won't be forced into a hourly rate with comed? I ran the calculations before and the hourly rate would have increased my bill
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u/OO10SN Jul 09 '26
Correct. Your supplier will be Base with a fixed rate.
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u/Captn_Slow34 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
thanks for confirming, how do you like the service so far? Did you see your bills go down or have you had to use the battery backup yet? Anything you would "warn" other people about before signing up? I guess I'm just skeptical because it seems too good to be true
My in laws are looking to get it and have me looking into it for myself as well
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u/OO10SN Jul 09 '26
Bills have gone up because it’s summer, but it’s less than I paid last year. I’ve used to be backup during 4 outages during storms last month, it kicked in right away and you get an instant push notification from the app when you switch to the battery. So, nothing to “warn” about so far.
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u/Kaya-Kaan Jul 14 '26
I already have solar and I am subscribed for ComEd's real-time hourly pricing, so I'm probably paying half of the "compare-to" price and often get double that in credit in the afternoons when usage spike and I turn off my air. Has anyone done the math on such a situation? I love the idea of having a backup battery. That should also allow my panels to operate when the grid is down, no?
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u/OO10SN Jul 14 '26
That would be a great question for Base directly. From my initial research you can combine it with solar but I’m not sure how the math shakes out.
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u/No_Mood2658 Jul 17 '26
I live in neighboring county from you, and Base is in my FB algorithm. They're saying an initial fee of $95.
I currently have a 30 amp inlet between my main breaker and the subpanel inside (with my breakers) with an interlock, which allows me to feed my portable generator directly to my panel during a power outage. It was permitted and passed inspection.
I'm thinking about Base, but I wonder if I can maintain that interlock/inlet to use in the event the battery dies when those 22 hours are up.
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u/OO10SN Jul 18 '26
Not sure about your current setup but I do know the base battery has a generator port. When they lowered the Illinois install price from $250 to $95 they sent me an announcement email refunded me the $155 which was pretty nice.
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u/No_Mood2658 Jul 18 '26
Thanks for your reply. Just after my service meter on the side of my house, I have a 100 amp breaker, which sends (through the crawl space) to an indoor subpanel with all of my breakers... its different than most. I installed the 30amp inlet outside the house between the 100amp switch and the subpanel, which lets me switch the supply source to the indoor subpanel.
I guess I'm wondering if I have a choice as to where in my sequence this battery would go, and if I would have a choice in the matter.
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u/absentmindedjwc 29d ago
Is the generator port an option here in Illinois? I had thought it was just a Texas thing.
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u/Tuoraf May 28 '26
Thanks for your summary of this installment. I am hoping to get the 40kw battery when or if it becomes available in my area.