SCE Rate Changes in 2026: Every Increase, Decrease, and What's Already Approved

• The January 2026 TRUE-UP pulled rates back to ~34.5¢ because 2025 electricity sales came in higher than forecast — but it also added $122 million for Thomas Fire/Montecito recovery bonds. > - CPUC-authorized increases of roughly 2.6–2.7% per year are already approved for 2027 and 2028 under the 2025 General Rate Case.

Last verified July 2026 by Helios Energy Global. This is our running changelog of SCE rate changes — we update it as each CPUC decision and SCE rate advisory lands. For the deeper story of why these increases keep happening, read our companion explainer, Why did my SCE rates go up?

If you're an SCE customer trying to reconcile your bill against the news, the confusing part isn't that rates went up — it's that they moved four times in nine months, in both directions. Here's the clean record of what changed, when, and why, followed by what each change does to the solar and battery math.

The SCE rate changelog: 2025 through July 2026

Every entry below comes from SCE's own rate advisories or CPUC decisions. "Average residential rate" is SCE's system-average figure excluding the Climate Credit; your rate plan will differ.

Effective date	Avg. residential rate	Change	What drove it
Jan 1, 2025	~31.6¢/kWh	+9.1% for a typical 500 kWh customer	2025 General Rate Case decision — wildfire mitigation, grid hardening, inspections
Oct 1, 2025	35.3¢/kWh (from 31.2¢)	~+13%	$536M recovery of 2022–23 wildfire-risk-reduction costs plus 2020–22 catastrophic-event restoration
Jan 1, 2026	34.5¢/kWh	−0.8¢	Annual TRUE-UP: 2025 usage ran above forecast, so rates adjusted down; partially offset by +$122M in recovery bonds for Thomas Fire/Montecito Debris Flow claims
Jun 1, 2026	34.4¢/kWh	−0.1¢	2026 Wildfire Liability Self-Insurance increase, more than offset by decreases in other rate components

Two things stand out from the pattern. First, the decreases are small and mechanical — true-ups and offsets — while the increases are large and structural. The October 2025 jump alone was bigger than both 2026 decreases combined by a factor of five. Second, "wildfire" appears in the driver column of every single row. That's not a coincidence; it's the defining cost pressure on SCE's system, and the January 2025 Eaton Fire has only added to the liability questions hanging over future filings.

What's already approved through 2028

The 2025 General Rate Case wasn't a one-year decision. The CPUC authorized SCE's revenue requirements through 2028, with post-test-year increases capped by a CPI mechanism at 5% per year. In practical terms, for a typical 500 kWh/month customer:

Year	Authorized bill change (typical 500 kWh customer)	Approx. %
2025	Implemented January 2025	+9.1%
2026	~+$5.14/month	+2.7%
2027	~+$5.11/month	+2.6%
2028	~+$5.26/month	+2.7%

These are authorized, not speculative — barring an unusual regulatory reversal, they're the floor for where rates go from here. And they're only the GRC layer: separate proceedings (wildfire cost recovery, transmission rates set at FERC, the annual TRUE-UP) stack on top, which is how October 2025's 13% jump happened outside the GRC schedule entirely. Anyone modeling their electricity costs on a flat 34¢ for the next decade is modeling a fantasy.

The 4–9 PM problem: averages hide the number that matters

The 34.4¢ average is a blended figure. SCE residential customers are on time-of-use plans, and the structure of those plans matters more to your actual bill — and to solar design — than the average does. The most expensive hours fall in the 4–9 PM weekday peak, when rates on common SCE TOU schedules can run well above 50¢/kWh in summer, while overnight power is far cheaper.

TOU period (typical SCE residential schedule)	When	Approx. price signal, summer
On-peak	4–9 PM weekdays	Highest — can exceed 50¢/kWh on some schedules
Mid/off-peak	Daytime outside peak	Moderate
Off-peak	Overnight, early morning	Lowest

That 4–9 PM window lands exactly as rooftop solar production fades — which is the whole design problem, and the whole battery opportunity, in SCE territory. For what these rates mean in dollars for typical LA-area homes, see our average electric bill in Los Angeles guide.

What each rate change does to solar and battery payback

Here's the honest arithmetic. Every kilowatt-hour you generate and use yourself is worth whatever SCE would have charged you for it. When the average rate jumped from 31.2¢ to 35.3¢ last October, every self-consumed solar kWh got about 13% more valuable overnight — and the authorized 2027–28 increases keep nudging that value up on a schedule you can read in advance.

The catch is that under NEM 3.0, SCE's net billing tariff, exported solar earns only hourly avoided-cost credits — roughly 75% below retail on average, often in the 5–9¢ range for most hours. So rate increases don't help an export-heavy, solar-only design much; they help self-consumption designs a lot. A battery that shifts your midday production into the 4–9 PM peak captures the retail rate — the number that keeps climbing — instead of the export rate, which doesn't.

That's why rising SCE rates compress solar-plus-battery paybacks (typically into the 6–9 year range on well-designed systems) faster than they compress solar-only paybacks (often 10–14 years under NEM 3.0).

One thing rising rates don't fix: the federal residential solar tax credit ended December 31, 2025, so there's no 30% federal credit on a system you purchase in 2026. The math has to work on the rates themselves — and in SCE territory, increasingly, it does. We model your actual SCE rate schedule and usage in our design and savings estimator rather than quoting off the system average.

Frequently asked questions

How much did SCE rates go up in 2026?

Slightly down, so far — the January 1, 2026 TRUE-UP brought the average residential rate from 35.3¢ to about 34.5¢/kWh, and a June 1 adjustment trimmed it to roughly 34.4¢. But that follows October 2025's ~13% jump, and CPUC-authorized GRC increases of about 2.7% took effect in 2026 within that blend, with ~2.6–2.7% more already approved for both 2027 and 2028.

Why did SCE rates go down in January 2026?

The annual TRUE-UP. Each January, SCE reconciles the prior year's actual electricity sales against its forecast; 2025 usage came in higher than projected, so rates adjusted downward to return the over-collection. The same filing added $122 million for recovery bonds tied to the Thomas Fire and Montecito Debris Flow — a reminder that even the "down" adjustments carry wildfire costs inside them. Our SCE rates explainer covers the full mechanics.

What is SCE's average residential rate right now?

About 34.4¢/kWh as of June 1, 2026, per SCE's own rate advisory (roughly 33.2¢ when the semi-annual California Climate Credit is factored in). Your effective rate depends on your TOU plan — summer peak hours on some schedules run well above 50¢/kWh.

Are more SCE rate increases coming?

Yes. The 2025 General Rate Case authorized increases of roughly 2.6–2.7% per year for 2027 and 2028, and separate proceedings — wildfire cost recovery, FERC transmission rates, potential Eaton Fire liabilities — can add more outside that schedule, as October 2025 demonstrated. The direction is set; only the pace varies.

Do rising SCE rates make solar worth more?

Yes — specifically the self-consumed kind. Every rate increase raises the value of solar power you use yourself, while NEM 3.0 export credits stay low regardless. That's why solar-plus-battery systems, which shift midday production into the expensive 4–9 PM peak, benefit most from SCE's rate trajectory. We show both solar-only and solar-plus-battery numbers on your actual rate plan so the comparison is honest.