How we check what we publish

Every number on this site links to where it came from. Tap one to see the source, the exact section we read, and the day we read it. If we can't confirm a number, we don't publish it. And if a number goes out of date, the site won't build until we check it again.

How our pages are made

We write our pages with the help of AI writing tools. A draft is not a page yet. Before anything goes live, our build checks every page against the rules below. If one check fails, that page does not publish, and nothing else on the site goes live until it is fixed.

Each guide answers one question homeowners ask about solar in Illinois, with the answer in the first few lines. Each week we look at which questions still need a guide and which pages need a fresh check.

We read the source itself

We go to primary sources: the Illinois Shines program documents, the Illinois Power Agency's consumer protection rules, the Illinois Commerce Commission, Illinois law, and federal agencies like the IRS, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Energy Information Administration. For a county page, we also read the county's, the city's or the co-op's own site about its own area. Not another blog.

How a number gets on the site

We copy the exact words from the source page. A script then reads that page itself. It adds the number only if those exact words are on the page, and only if every number we show appears in them. If the words aren't there, the number stays off the site.

Some sites block automated reads. When that happens, we use another primary source that says the same thing, or we leave the point out.

Every number shows its proof

Each number opens a card with its source, the section, and the date we checked it. Our guides also end with a numbered list of their sources. The data page lists every number on the site in one place.

Numbers that go out of date

Rates and program rules change. So each number carries a date, no more than three months out, when we read its source again. Every time the site is built, it checks those dates. If any number is past its date, the build fails. Nothing new goes live until we read that source again and update the number.

The average price Illinois homes pay for electricity, shown on our home page, comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. We refresh it every month.

The rules every page must pass

Our pages count as marketing under the Illinois Shines rules. So we hold every page to the program's Consumer Protection Handbook, and in places we go further. The build stops any page that:

• makes any claim about money you will keep, or about what solar will do to your bill
• says or suggests that your utility bill goes away
• names the utility for anything but its service territory or net metering credits
• suggests we work for or speak for the state, the program or a utility
• shows a number that does not link to its source
• names an installer, a product brand or a person in its own text (the legal disclosure in our footer names the companies behind the offer, as the rules require)
• quotes a customer or posts a review
• opens a guide above a sixth-grade reading level

Corrections

Find a mistake? Message us or email luke@gottashowmesolar.com. We fix it and put the date of the change on the page.

Who writes this

GSM Solar publishes every page, and the byline is the company, not a person. We draft with AI writing tools, as described above. The sources and the checks on this page are what we stand behind.