Authority sources
Every factual claim on this site traces to one of the public authority sources below or to a comparable agency record (IRS, CFPB, FTC, state public utility commission filings). Anything not cited is editorial commentary, and we mark it as such. When we research and verify a page, the source URL, the access date, and the figure we pulled go into the page's footnotes before the page goes live. Wherever a competitor's claim conflicts with the authority record, we name the disagreement and pick the source we trust, rather than averaging it away.
- National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL, renamed by DOE December 2025) , production modeling via the PVWatts v8 API (developer.nlr.gov) and NSRDB irradiance data for the specific ZIP under analysis. The lab was renamed by DOE from "National Renewable Energy Laboratory" to "National Laboratory of the Rockies" in December 2025; we retain "NREL" as the short form because it remains the recognized attribution for the underlying methodology.
- Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency , cross-checking state and federal incentive program eligibility, expiration dates, and stack rules.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration , utility-level residential rates, average household consumption, and county-level bill benchmarks via Form EIA-861.
- Illinois Commerce Commission , tariff filings, approved riders, and the formal record on net-metering and Smart Solar Billing transitions.
- Illinois Shines Program , current REC pricing, block status, approved-vendor queue, and the Stranded Customer Resources record.
- Public Service Commission of Wisconsin , authority reference for policy and rate data.
- Focus on Energy , authority reference for policy and rate data.
- Colorado Public Utilities Commission , authority reference for policy and rate data.
- Colorado Energy Office , authority reference for policy and rate data.
- Oregon Public Utility Commission , authority reference for policy and rate data.
- Energy Trust of Oregon , authority reference for policy and rate data.
What we will not do
- No fabricated testimonials, no AI-generated reviews, no stock photos passed off as Summit project work. Real customer reviews, when used, are quoted with the source platform (Google, Facebook, BBB) and the date pulled. If we cannot verify a reader-submitted quote in writing, it does not appear on the site.
- No commission-tracked links to installers presented as editorial recommendations. The site does not maintain a "best installers in [city]" list. The /companies/ pages teach readers how to evaluate any installer, with red flags and questions to ask, rather than ranking competitors that pay the highest referral fee.
- No headline use of marketing-myth figures. The recurring "Illinois 25% state solar tax credit" claim is a fabrication: the Illinois Department of Revenue enumerates 76 individual income-tax credits, and zero are for residential solar or photovoltaics. The 30% federal residential credit under Section 25D expired December 31, 2025, so it is not quoted as a 2026 incentive on cash or loan installs. We document the underlying program where it exists (Illinois Shines RECs, Section 48E for third-party-owned systems) rather than inflating numbers a homeowner cannot actually collect.
How we make money
Summit Energy Solutions earns a referral fee when homeowners we connect with installers complete installations. This site is independent and not affiliated with or funded by any installer.
This is the same model as comparison sites like NerdWallet or Policygenius, we earn when our recommendations result in a transaction. We do not take installer ad money or sponsorship.
How we cite
Inline citations link directly to the primary source: the IRS guidance page, the ICC docket entry, the NREL API response, the CFPB issue spotlight. The civic-chrome source bar at the top of each policy or city page lists the authority indexes used. Numbered footnotes at the bottom of each long-form page collect those sources with the date they were last accessed. Every editorial page carries a Last-verified date directly under the headline, so readers can see at a glance how recently the content was checked against the underlying source.
Update cadence
Policy pages, the federal credit explainer, Illinois Shines program status, the net metering pages, are re-verified at least quarterly, and immediately when an authority source publishes a material change. Utility tariff pages are re-verified after every approved ICC filing that touches residential billing or net export compensation. City cost ranges are re-verified annually with current NREL PVWatts output, current Illinois Power Agency REC pricing, and the most recent EIA-861 residential rate data. When a page is updated, the Last-verified date moves and the change is logged at the foot of the page.