Ameren Illinois LLLC Market Assessment

Ameren Illinois is conducting this market assessment to better understand current adoption, sales channels, decision-making processes, barriers, and opportunities for Luminaire-Level Lighting Controls (LLLC). Findings from these interviews will help inform future program design, incentive strategies, market education, and stakeholder engagement to support broader adoption of advanced lighting controls within the Ameren Illinois service territory. Your participation is voluntary, and your responses will be kept confidential. Information shared during this interview will be combined with feedback from other participants and reported only in aggregate. Individual comments will not be attributed to you or your organization without your permission. This interview is for research purposes only.

SECTION 1: MARKET ROLE & BUSINESS ACTIVITY

1. Please describe your role and your company’s involvement in commercial lighting and controls projects.

2. Which of the following best describes your organization?

Manufacturer Representative

Manufacturer/Regional Sales Manager

Contractor

ESCO

Design-Build Firm

Other

3. Approximately what percentage of your commercial lighting business falls into each of the following categories? (New Construction/Design-Build, Existing Building Retrofits, ESCO/Perforance Contracting, Other)

4. In which project types does your organization have the greatest influence over lighting and controls decisions? (Example: Commercial, Schools, industrial, etc. Or is it Design Build, New construction, or existing buildings)

SECTION 2: LLLC MARKET ACTIVITY, SALES ESTIMATES & PRODUCT TRENDS

5. Thinking about your company’s lighting projects completed during 2026 (year-to-date), approximately what percentage fall into each of the following categories? Responses should total 100%: Traditional Lighting Controls (non-networked), Networked Lighting Controls, Luminaire-Level Lighting Controls (LLLC), Occupancy sensors, No lighting controls

6. Thinking about the Ameren Illinois service territory, how would you estimate your company’s current LLLC and overall commercial lighting sales? For the purposes of this interview, LLLC includes new fixtures and LLLC retrofit kits. If you are comfortable sharing sales data, we appreciate it, but it is not required. Approximately how many commercial light fixtures (all types) did your company sell in 2025? Approximately how many commercial LLLC-enabled light fixtures did your company sell in 2025? Approximate percentage of commercial LED fixture sales that include LLLC in 2025? Approximate percentage of commercial lighting control projects that utilize LLLC in 2025?

7. If you are unable or prefer not to provide the estimates requested in Question 6, please provide your best estimate of your company's 2025 commercial sales of LLLC luminaire and retrofit kit sales within the Ameren Illinois service territory. An approximate estimate (for example, to the nearest 1,000 or 5,000 units) is sufficient. Total commercial lighting fixtures sold in 2025:

8. Total commercial LLLC fixtures and retrofit kits sold in 2025: If you are unable to provide an estimate, please select the closest range for both total commercial lighting fixtures sold in 2025 and total commercial LLLC fixtures and retrofit kits sold in 2025:

Less than 1,000 units

1,000-4,999 units

10,000-19,999 units

20,000-49,999 units

More than 50,000 units

Unsure

9. For each project channel, approximately what percentage of projects currently utilize LLLC? Why? Categories: New Construction: Planning & Specification, New Construction/Design-Build, Existing Building Retrofits, ESCO/Performance Contracting

10. Compared to two years ago, how would you describe LLLC adoption in Illinois?

Growing rapidly

Growing moderately

Stable

Declining

11. What annual growth rate would you estimate for LLLC adoption over the next three years?

12. Thinking about the LLLC fixtures you sold in 2025, approximately what percentage of those projects were for each of the following sectors? [numeric open end 0-100, must sum to 100]. Categories: Retail (department stores, hardware stores, specialty stores, pharmacies, etc.), Health or medical services (medical, dental, veterinarian, counseling offices, hospitals, and laboratories), Offices (industrial parks, office buildings, etc.), Education or childcare (colleges, trade schools, universities, pre-K, K-12, nurseries, etc.), Warehousing, distribution, or wholesale (storage rentals, cold storage and delivery, bulk sales, etc.), Other, Unknown

13. Which building types or applications do you believe offer the greatest future opportunity for LLLC adoption? Why?

14. Within projects utilizing advanced lighting controls, approximately what share would you attribute to: Standalone Embedded Controls, Room-Based LLLC, Fully Networked LLLC

15. How would you characterize the current mix of wireless and wired lighting control systems in your market?

Mostly wired

Mostly wireless

Roughly equal

Varies by application

16. To what extent has the mix of wireless and wired lighting control systems changed over the past two to three years? Please describe any trends you have observed

SECTION 3: DECISION-MAKING & MARKET INFLUENCE

17. At what point in the project lifecycle is LLLC typically introduced or considered?

18. Which of the following market actors do you think are most influential in increasing LLLC adoption?

Building Owners

Engineers

Lighting Designers

Contractors

Distributors

Manufacturer Representatives

Utilities

19. Which of the following market actors do you think are most influential in limiting LLLC adoption?

Building Owners

Engineers

Lighting Designers

Contractors

Distributors

Manufacturer Representatives

Utilities

20. Are there market actors, customer segments, or organizations that you believe represent untapped opportunities for increasing LLLC adoption?

SECTION 4: PROGRAM INFLUENCE, BARRIERS & OPPORTUNITIES

21. What are the primary barriers limiting broader LLLC adoption today?

22. What factors most often drive customers to select LLLC?

23. What changes, if any, have you observed in the commercial lighting market over the past two to three years related to LLLC adoption?

24. How aware are customers and market actors of available utility incentives for LLLC?

25. Of the LLLC projects you are seeing today, approximately what percentage do you believe would have moved forward without utility incentives and what percentage required utility incentive to move forward? (Response to total 100%)

26. What training, technical assistance, or market support would most help accelerate LLLC adoption? Who (e.g., which roles or market actors) needs this training, technical assistance, or market support?

27. What training formats and resources about LLLCs would be most valuable?

In-person workshops

Hands-on demonstrations

Webinars

Online self-paced training

Case studies

Design assistance

Other

28. What recommendations would you provide to Ameren Illinois to increase adoption of LLLC and advanced lighting controls within its service territory?

29. Are there any emerging market trends, technologies, or business practices for LLLC that Ameren Illinois should be monitoring as part of future market assessments?