What is the average electric bill in California? (2026)

Ask what the average electric bill in California is and you get a number that's technically correct and practically useless. We design solar systems across Southern California every week, and the single most common thing we see on a first call is a homeowner who read a "$175 average" figure somewhere and is holding a $410 bill, wondering what they're doing wrong. Usually the answer is nothing — they just live in the wrong utility territory with the wrong rate plan.

So this guide gives you the statewide number, and then immediately gives you the number that actually applies to you.

The statewide average, honestly stated

Metric	California	US average
Average residential rate	~35.25¢/kWh	18.83¢/kWh
Rank among the 50 states	2nd highest (behind Hawaii)	—
Typical household usage	~500 kWh/month	~850 kWh/month
Resulting average bill	~$175–$180/month	~$160/month

Notice the second row of that table, because it is the whole story. California's rate is nearly double the national average, but California's bills are only modestly above average — because California homes use far less electricity than homes in Texas, Arizona, or Florida. Mild coastal weather, a lot of gas heating, and decades of appliance-efficiency standards mean the average California household burns roughly 500 kWh a month against a national norm closer to 850.

That's the trap. The statewide "average bill" is held down by low usage and by millions of customers on cheap municipal utilities. If you're on an investor-owned utility with real summer heat, the average tells you nothing about your bill.

What bills actually look like, by utility and usage

These are volumetric estimates using each utility's approximate all-in residential average. Your real bill moves with your rate plan (most households are on time-of-use), your baseline allowance, CARE/FERA status, and the twice-yearly California Climate Credit.

Monthly usage	PG&E (~41¢)	SCE (~35¢)	SDG&E (~46¢)	LADWP (~28¢)
300 kWh	~$125	~$105	~$140	~$85
500 kWh	~$205	~$175	~$230	~$140
750 kWh	~$310	~$260	~$345	~$210
1,000 kWh	~$415	~$350	~$460	~$280
1,500 kWh	~$620	~$525	~$690	~$420

For a sanity check on that PG&E column: PG&E's own January 2026 rate advisory puts a 500 kWh non-CARE residential bill at $208.68, or $202.65 after the Climate Credit. CARE customers at the same usage pay $127.79.

The per-utility detail lives in its own guide:

• Average SCE bill in 2026 — the largest customer base in the state
• Average LADWP bill in 2026 — municipal, tiered, and cheaper than its neighbors
• Average electric bill in Los Angeles — where LADWP and SCE territory meet in one city
• Average electric bill in San Diego — the highest rates in the continental US
• Average electric bill in Palm Springs and Temecula — desert and inland-valley cooling loads
• IID electricity rates — the Imperial Valley outlier

If you want to know whether your usage is the problem, start with how many kWh per month is normal.

Which California utility is most expensive?

Utility	Type	Approximate residential average	Who it serves
SDG&E	Investor-owned	~46¢/kWh	San Diego County, south Orange County
PG&E	Investor-owned	~41.5¢/kWh (Jan 2026)	Northern and Central California
SCE	Investor-owned	~34–35¢/kWh	Most of Southern California outside LA city and San Diego
LADWP	Municipal	~26–31¢/kWh effective	City of Los Angeles
SMUD, IID, and other munis	Municipal / irrigation district	Generally well below the IOUs	Sacramento, Imperial Valley, and other pockets

Two structural facts explain almost all of that spread. First, the investor-owned utilities are regulated by the CPUC and earn an authorized return on capital investment — including the enormous ongoing spend on wildfire mitigation, undergrounding, and liability insurance. Municipal utilities like LADWP and SMUD don't earn a shareholder return and carry different wildfire exposure. Second, most of an IOU bill is delivery, not generation, which is why switching to a community choice aggregator trims the bill without transforming it.

PG&E rates did come down on January 1, 2026 — from 44.36¢ in September 2025 to 41.46¢. That's real, and it's the direction nobody expected two years ago. It also still leaves PG&E customers paying more than double the national average.

The 2026 change most homeowners didn't see coming

Between October 2025 and March 2026, all three investor-owned utilities restructured residential bills around a Base Services Charge — the income-graduated fixed charge the CPUC authorized in 2024.

Utility	Effective	Standard residential	CARE	FERA
SDG&E	October 2025	~$24/month	~$6	~$12
SCE	November 2025	~$24/month	~$6	~$12
PG&E	March 2026	~$24/month	~$6	~$12

Each utility cut per-kWh delivery pricing by roughly 10% (SDG&E quantified it at about 5¢/kWh) to offset the new line item. The CPUC's stated goal was to make electrification — heat pumps, induction, EVs — cheaper per kilowatt-hour.

Whether it helped or hurt you is arithmetic, not opinion:

• Low-usage households generally pay more. A 250 kWh/month apartment doesn't consume enough kilowatt-hours for a 10% volumetric cut to recover $24.
• High-usage households generally pay less. A 1,200 kWh/month home with AC and an EV saves more on the volumetric cut than the fixed charge costs.
• Solar households feel it most. The Base Services Charge is not offset by production. If your solar array zeroed out your usage, you still owe roughly $24 a month plus taxes and fees. This is worth saying plainly, because a lot of solar marketing implies a $0 bill and that is no longer possible on an IOU.

If your bill jumped and you can't find the reason, why is my electric bill so high walks through the line items, and why did my SCE rates go up covers the SCE-specific history.

Why California rates got here

Cost driver	What it does to your bill
Wildfire mitigation	Undergrounding, vegetation management, weather stations, insurance and liability reserves — the largest single driver of IOU rate increases since 2018
Transmission and distribution	An aging grid serving vast, difficult terrain, with capital costs earning an authorized return
Public purpose programs	CARE/FERA discounts, energy efficiency, and low-income programs funded through rates rather than taxes
Generation	The commodity itself — and the one slice a community choice aggregator can compete on
Declining sales	Efficiency and rooftop solar reduce billed kilowatt-hours while fixed costs stay fixed, pushing up the per-kWh price for everyone remaining

That last row is the uncomfortable one, and it's also why the Base Services Charge exists.

What solar actually removes from a California bill

Under the CPUC's Net Billing Tariff — NEM 3.0 — power you export to the grid earns a low avoided-cost credit, typically single-digit cents for most hours. Power you use yourself instead of buying is worth full retail. That asymmetry is the entire design problem.

Where a solar kWh goes	Value in SCE territory	Value in SDG&E territory
Consumed in your home	~35¢	~46¢
Stored, then used during the 4–9 PM peak	Up to ~55¢+	Up to ~60¢+
Exported to the grid	Roughly 5–8¢ most hours	Roughly 5–8¢ most hours

Which is why nearly every system we design in IOU territory pairs panels with a battery: bank the midday surplus, spend it during the expensive evening window, export as little as possible. In LADWP territory — where net metering is still close to retail — solar-only often still pencils, and we say so.

What solar does not remove: the Base Services Charge, taxes, and fees. Budget for roughly $25–$35 a month in non-bypassable charges even on a system that covers all your usage.

On the financing, since every quote in 2026 gets this wrong somewhere: the 30% federal residential clean-energy credit expired December 31, 2025 and does not apply to any 2026 installation. Anyone quoting you a 30% residential ITC this year is reading last year's script. What still exists is the federal commercial clean-energy credit, claimed by whoever owns the system. Through a prepaid lease — our Propel program through Concert Finance, or Participate Energy's prepaid lease — the financing partner captures that commercial credit and passes roughly 30% through as money off your cost up front. You take title to the system at the start of year 6, essentially for free. It's a financing structure, not a tax filing, and we're not tax advisors — we put it in writing and suggest you confirm it with yours.

You can model your own numbers against your actual utility and usage with our savings designer, or see current installed pricing on the California solar panel cost page.

What's coming next

Rates are not standing still. Each of the big three has approved or pending changes for the rest of 2026 and into 2027:

• SCE rate changes in 2026
• SDG&E rate changes in 2026
• LADWP rate changes in 2026

And if you're weighing an installer, our ranking of the best solar companies in California covers who's still standing after a brutal two years of industry bankruptcies.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average electric bill in California in 2026?

About $175–$180 a month for a typical household using roughly 500 kWh at the statewide average residential rate of about 35.25¢/kWh. That average is dragged down by low household consumption and by municipal utilities, so investor-owned utility customers routinely pay far more — a 1,000 kWh SDG&E home is closer to $460.

Why is electricity so expensive in California?

Mostly delivery costs, not generation. Wildfire mitigation and liability, transmission and distribution investment earning an authorized return, and public-purpose programs funded through rates rather than taxes. Falling billed kilowatt-hours — from efficiency and rooftop solar — spread those fixed costs over fewer units, which pushes the per-kWh price up further.

Which California utility has the highest electricity rates?

SDG&E, at roughly 46¢/kWh — the highest of any major utility in the continental United States. PG&E follows at about 41.5¢, then SCE at 34–35¢. LADWP, as a municipal utility, runs an effective 26–31¢.

What is the Base Services Charge and why is it on my bill?

It's the income-graduated fixed charge the CPUC authorized in 2024, phased in by SDG&E in October 2025, SCE in November 2025, and PG&E in March 2026. Standard residential customers pay about $24 a month, CARE about $6, FERA about $12, and per-kWh delivery pricing dropped roughly 10% to offset it. Low-usage homes tend to pay more overall; high-usage homes tend to pay less.

How much electricity does the average California home use?

About 500 kWh per month — well below the US average of roughly 850 kWh. Mild coastal climate, widespread gas heating, and decades of appliance efficiency standards account for most of the gap. Inland and desert homes with summer air conditioning routinely run 1,000–1,500 kWh in July and August.

Can solar eliminate my California electric bill entirely?

It can eliminate the usage portion, but not the whole bill. The Base Services Charge, taxes, and other non-bypassable charges survive regardless of production — budget roughly $25–$35 a month. Under NEM 3.0, systems that pair solar with a battery and maximize self-consumption get much closer to zero than export-heavy designs do.