Base Power has expanded into Illinois, marking the home battery startup’s first entry into the territory managed by PJM Interconnection.
The company is offering residents in Commonwealth Edison’s service area a large home battery, backup electricity and discounted energy rates. Base will use the connected batteries as a virtual power plant that can respond when electricity demand rises.
Illinois Customers Receive Low-Cost Home Batteries
The first 2,000 Illinois customers can receive a 40-kilowatt-hour battery for a one-time installation fee of $95. Later customers will pay $295, still considerably less than the typical upfront cost of a home battery system.
Participating households must purchase electricity from Base, while ComEd will continue delivering the power and issuing the monthly bill. Base’s promotional supply rates are 25% below ComEd’s comparable peak rate and 27% lower during off-peak hours.
The discounts do not apply to ComEd’s delivery charges, taxes or other fees. Base owns and operates the battery, while customers receive backup power during outages.
The startup’s Illinois offering normally includes a 25-kilowatt-hour battery, with larger systems available through selected plans and promotions.
Distributed Batteries Can Avoid Lengthy Grid Queues
Base charges its batteries when electricity is less expensive and can discharge them when the wider grid is under stress. Combining thousands of residential systems allows the company to operate them as a distributed energy resource.
Chief executive Zach Dell said installing batteries behind customers’ electricity meters allows Base to use existing residential connections. This can be faster than developing a conventional power plant that must pass through PJM’s lengthy interconnection process.
PJM Interconnection supplies electricity to about 67 million people across 13 states and Washington, DC. Its territory includes Northern Virginia and other regions experiencing rapid growth in electricity demand from data centres.
PJM expects summer peak demand to rise from approximately 160,000 megawatts in 2027 to more than 241,000 megawatts over the following 15 years. The grid operator has introduced reforms intended to accelerate new generation as demand grows.
Base Accelerates Expansion After Major Funding Rounds
Base launched in Texas in 2023 and says it now operates more than 500 megawatt-hours of residential battery capacity there. Its business model combines retail electricity sales, backup power and grid services rather than selling batteries directly to homeowners.
The expansion follows a $1 billion Series C round led by Addition in October 2025. Base had raised another $200 million six months earlier from investors including Addition, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Valor Equity Partners.
Base plans to continue expanding beyond Texas and Illinois as utilities and grid operators seek additional capacity that can be deployed without building large centralised power plants.
Featured image credits: Magnific.com
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