LADWP Rate Changes in 2026: What Went Up, Why, and What's Next

This is a page we keep updated as LADWP's numbers move — last verified July 2026, against LADWP's published rate tables. LADWP doesn't do dramatic rate-case announcements the way SCE does at the CPUC; its increases arrive quietly, four times a year, through adjustment factors most customers have never heard of. If your bill is up and you can't find the press release explaining why, this page is the explanation. (For the full anatomy of the rate itself — tiers, zones, TOU — see LADWP rates explained.)

What LADWP residential rates did in 2026

Here are LADWP's own published totals for the standard R-1A rate (energy charge plus adjustment factors, excluding taxes), 2025 versus 2026:

Period	Tier 1, 2025 → 2026	Tier 2, 2025 → 2026	Tier 3, 2025 → 2026
January – March	22.30¢ → 24.77¢	28.16¢ → 30.63¢	28.16¢ → 30.63¢
April – May	22.77¢ → 24.36¢	28.62¢ → 30.22¢	28.62¢ → 30.22¢
June	22.77¢ → 24.36¢	28.62¢ → 30.22¢	37.33¢ → 38.92¢
July – September	24.31¢ → 26.41¢	30.17¢ → 32.27¢	38.87¢ → 40.97¢
October – December	24.60¢ → TBD Oct 1	30.46¢ → TBD	30.46¢ → TBD

The pattern: winter rates jumped about 2.5¢/kWh year over year, spring and summer about 1.6–2.1¢. For a household using 750 kWh a month, the summer change alone is worth roughly $16 a month — and the October reset is the next date to watch, since factors set then carry into 2027 bills.

The TOU rate (R-1B) moved by the same amount

Because the adjustment factors apply across rate schedules, the optional time-of-use rate rose in lockstep:

R-1B period (Jul–Sep)	2025	2026
High Peak (weekdays 1–5 p.m.)	33.02¢	35.12¢
Low Peak (weekdays 10 a.m.–1 p.m., 5–8 p.m.)	27.18¢	29.28¢
Base (nights and weekends)	24.44¢	26.54¢

There's no escaping an adjustment-factor increase by switching schedules — R-1A and R-1B carry the same freight.

How LADWP raises rates without a "rate increase"

LADWP's base rates were last set by ordinance with prices effective July 1, 2019 — Tier 1 is still nominally 7.1¢/kWh on paper. Everything above that is a stack of pass-through adjustment factors: the Energy Cost Adjustment (fuel and purchased power), Variable Energy Adjustment, two renewable-portfolio adjustments, two reliability adjustments funding replacement of aging grid infrastructure, and a small subsidy adjustment. In 2026, those factors make up roughly 17–19¢ of every kWh you're billed — well over half the total.

The mechanics matter because of who approves what. The factors are trued up against expenditure budgets the LADWP Board approves in public session (the approvals are posted on LADWP's pass-through expenditures page), then flow to bills at the quarterly reset dates. In late 2025 the Board approved expenditure levels that the city's Ratepayer Advocate pegged at a low-single-digit percentage increase on the median residential electric bill — and the January 2026 numbers above are what that looked like when it landed. The LA Office of Public Accountability, the independent ratepayer advocate, reviews these approvals and publishes analysis worth reading if you want the long version.

The fixed charges, for the record, did not move:

Fixed charge	2025	2026
Power Access Charge (Tier 1 / 2 / 3)	$2.30 / $7.90 / $22.70	$2.30 / $7.90 / $22.70 (unchanged)
R-1A minimum charge	$10/month + factors	$10/month + factors (unchanged)
R-1B service charge	$12/month	$12/month (unchanged)

The bigger rate action everyone's waiting for

LADWP's last comprehensive rate action was the 2016 incremental rate ordinance — a decade old — and the utility has been openly studying a new one to modernize its 2008-era ordinance framework and fund the LA100 clean-energy transition. As of our last check in July 2026, no new multi-year rate ordinance has been adopted: staff have said the timing of the next power rate action is still under review, with complications including California's Proposition 26 cost-of-service rules. Any proposal would go through the Board and then City Council in public votes, with the Ratepayer Advocate weighing in, so there will be warning before it hits bills.

The honest read: the direction of travel is up regardless. Wildfire mitigation, grid rebuild costs, and renewable mandates are all pushing the adjustment factors higher even without a formal rate action — 2026's increase happened with no new ordinance at all.

What rising LADWP rates mean for solar payback

Every cent LADWP adds per kWh is a cent your panels earn, because LADWP still nets solar exports at your full retail rate — no NEM 3.0 haircut. A typical 6.5 kW system in LA produces on the order of 9,500–10,000 kWh a year; at 2026's effective rates, the usage it offsets is worth roughly $2,500–$3,000 a year, and that figure rises with every quarterly factor bump. Solar payback math that penciled at the longer end of 8–12 years on 2024 rates tightens as rates climb — and unlike the rates, your production cost is fixed on day one.

Two honest caveats. The federal residential solar tax credit expired December 31, 2025, so a 2026 purchase gets no federal credit — rate increases are doing more of the payback work now, not less of it. And LADWP's retail net metering is a policy, not a law of nature; going solar while it's intact locks in today's rules for your interconnection. For the bill-size context, see what the average LA electric bill looks like now, and for your specific roof and usage, get a custom design and savings estimate — we'll run it against the current rate tables, not last year's.

Frequently asked questions

How much did LADWP rates go up in 2026?

Comparing LADWP's published rate tables, January–March 2026 residential rates ran about 2.5¢/kWh above the same period in 2025 (Tier 1: 22.3¢ to 24.8¢, roughly +11%), and July–September 2026 rates about 2.1¢ above summer 2025 across all three tiers. October–December 2026 prices had not been posted as of our last check in July 2026.

Why did my LADWP bill go up if I never saw a rate increase announcement?

Because LADWP's increases flow through pass-through adjustment factors that reset every January, April, July, and October, based on expenditure budgets the LADWP Board approves — there's no CPUC-style rate case or headline announcement. The base rates haven't changed since 2019; the factors stacked on top are what moved.

Is LADWP planning a bigger rate increase?

LADWP has been studying a new comprehensive rate ordinance — its first full rate action since 2016 — but as of July 2026 nothing has been formally proposed or adopted, and staff have described the timing as still under review. Any future rate action would require public Board and City Council approval, so it won't arrive without notice.

Did the Power Access Charge change in 2026?

No. The PAC remains $2.30, $7.90, or $22.70 per month depending on which usage tier your highest month in the past year landed in. The tier assignment itself resets every October 1, so a heavy-AC summer can move you to a higher PAC bracket even though the charge amounts are unchanged.

Do rising LADWP rates make solar a better deal?

Mechanically, yes: LADWP nets solar exports at your retail rate, so every rate increase raises the value of each kWh your system produces or offsets. The offset is that the federal solar tax credit expired at the end of 2025, so 2026 buyers pay full freight up front — higher rates shorten the payback on that unsubsidized number.