Quick answer: Your California electric bill is high mostly because of the rate, not your usage. As of June 2026, the average residential rate is 33.7 cents per kWh at PG&E, 34.4 cents at SCE and 45.5 cents at SDG&E, up 69%, 101% and 97% respectively since January 2016, according to the CPUC Public Advocates Office. Add a new $24.15 monthly Base Services Charge and 4 to 9 p.m. peak pricing that runs 50 to 80 cents per kWh, and a household using the same 500 kWh it used five years ago is paying $60 to $100 more per month.
Here is the thing I tell every homeowner who calls us about a bill that jumped: I do not look at the total first. I look at the kWh on page two. In most of the bills we review across the Bay Area, LA and San Diego, usage is flat or down. The total went up anyway. That is the whole story of California electricity in 2026, and it changes what you should do about it.
Key takeaways
- Rates, not usage, explain most of the increase. Between January 2016 and June 2026 residential rates rose 69% at PG&E, 101% at SCE and 97% at SDG&E, versus 42% inflation over a similar period.
- Every investor-owned utility now bills a $24.15 Base Services Charge for non-CARE households (about $6 for CARE, about $12 for FERA). Solar does not remove it.
- Peak pricing from 4 to 9 p.m. is the single biggest controllable cost. Moving three loads out of that window is worth $20 to $60 a month for a typical family.
- More increases are coming. PG&E has asked for a $1.237 billion revenue increase for 2027 plus 6.1% per year through 2030; the Public Advocates Office estimates the full bill impact at about 16% in 2027 and 30% by 2030.
- Solar plus a battery still cuts the kWh portion of the bill by 70 to 90% under NEM 3.0, but the federal 25D tax credit ended December 31, 2025, so 2026 payback math is different from what you read a year ago.
Why is my electric bill so high in California?
Because the price per kilowatt-hour roughly doubled in ten years at two of the three big utilities, and the way that price is charged shifted toward the hours you are home. The CPUC Public Advocates Office tracks this every quarter. Its Q2 2026 Electric Rates Report puts the June 2026 residential average rates at the figures below.
Table 1. Average residential electricity rate by California utility, June 2026
| Utility | Avg. rate June 2026 | 3-year change | 5-year change | 10-year change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG&E | 33.7 cents/kWh | +8% | +39% | +69% |
| SCE | 34.4 cents/kWh | +4% | +56% | +101% |
| SDG&E | 45.5 cents/kWh | +5% | +42% | +97% |
| U.S. average (EIA) | 18.3 cents/kWh | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Source: CPUC Public Advocates Office, Q2 2026 Electric Rates Report (rates exclude the California Climate Credit). U.S. average from EIA Electric Power Monthly, June 2026.
For context, the state agency compares those increases to inflation. Since 2014, CPI is up 42%. Over the same window PG&E residential rates are up 93%, SCE 97% and SDG&E 117%. So even a household that cut usage by 20% since 2016 is paying more today than it did then.
[CHART: line, “California residential electricity rates 2016 to 2026 by utility”, x-axis: Jan 2016, Jan 2021, Jun 2023, Jun 2026; y-axis: cents per kWh; series PG&E 19.9, 24.2, 31.2, 33.7; SCE 17.1, 22.1, 33.1, 34.4; SDG&E 23.1, 32.0, 43.3, 45.5. Earlier points derived from the Public Advocates Office 3, 5 and 10-year percentage changes. Alt text: “Line chart of PG&E, SCE and SDG&E residential electricity rates rising from 2016 to 2026”. Takeaway line under chart: “SCE rates doubled in ten years; SDG&E is now above 45 cents per kWh.”]
Is it my usage or the rate? The 2-minute test
Divide your bill total by the kWh on the bill. If the answer is within 10% of your utility’s average rate in Table 1, you have a usage story. If it is 20% or more above the average, you have a timing or tier story, and that is the cheaper problem to fix.
Worked example. An SCE customer in Riverside gets a July bill of $310 for 720 kWh. That is 43 cents per kWh, 25% above SCE’s 34.4-cent average. The usage is only about 20% above the California average of roughly 500 to 600 kWh a month. The extra cost is coming from the 4 to 9 p.m. window, when SCE’s default TOU-D-4-9PM plan prices summer electricity near 58 cents per kWh. Shift the pool pump, the dryer and the EV out of that window and the same 720 kWh drops to roughly $255.
What is actually driving California electric bills up?
Six things, and only two of them are under your control. Here is the honest breakdown, in order of size.
1. Wildfire costs
This is the biggest single line item you never see. The Public Advocates Office reports that wildfire-related revenue requirements for 2026 are $3.97 billion at PG&E (19% of its total), $2.69 billion at SCE (14%) and $676 million at SDG&E (14%). That money covers undergrounding, vegetation management, self-insurance and the Wildfire Fund charge, and it is recovered through the per-kWh rate you pay. In its 2025 SB 695 report to the Legislature, the CPUC names wildfire mitigation and liability as the number one statewide rate driver.
2. Transmission and distribution spending
Poles, wires, substations and the grid upgrades needed for EVs, heat pumps and data centers. The CPUC lists this as driver number two. PG&E’s pending 2027 General Rate Case is largely about this category.
3. Rooftop solar incentives (net energy metering)
I will say this plainly even though we are a solar company: the CPUC lists legacy NEM 1.0 and 2.0 export credits as the third statewide driver. That is why NEM 3.0 exists and why we design systems for self-consumption rather than exports. More on that below.
4. Time-of-use peak pricing
All three utilities now default residential customers to time-of-use plans with a 4 to 9 p.m. peak. The peak price is where bills get away from people.
Table 2. Peak versus off-peak pricing on default residential TOU plans, summer 2026 (approximate)
| Utility and plan | Peak window | Summer peak price | Off-peak price | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG&E E-TOU-C | 4 to 9 p.m. daily | about 50 cents/kWh | about 41 cents/kWh | Smallest spread; shifting helps less |
| SCE TOU-D-4-9PM | 4 to 9 p.m. weekdays | about 58 cents/kWh | high 20s to 30s cents/kWh | Every kWh moved saves about 25 cents |
| SDG&E TOU-DR1 | 4 to 9 p.m. every day, weekends included | about 70 cents/kWh | about 48 cents/kWh | Highest peak price of the three |
Source: utility residential tariff pages (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E). Prices are blended per-period figures and change with quarterly true-ups; check your own rate schedule before switching plans.
5. The new $24.15 Base Services Charge
Since late 2025 (SCE and SDG&E) and March 2026 (PG&E), every residential bill carries a fixed monthly charge of $24.15 for non-CARE customers, about $6 for CARE and about $12 for FERA households, under CPUC Decision 24-05-028. The utilities cut per-kWh rates at the same time (SDG&E by about 5 cents, PG&E by 5 to 7 cents), so the net effect depends on usage. Low-usage apartments and homes with solar lost money on the swap. Homes using 600 kWh or more mostly broke even or came out slightly ahead. We wrote a full explainer on the California fixed charge.
6. Heat, AC and the loads you added
This is the usage part. The Public Advocates Office data shows the point clearly: in SCE’s hot Climate Zone 15 the average non-CARE bill is $254 a month on about 700 kWh; in cool Zone 6 it is $152 on about 385 kWh. Same utility, same rates. The difference is air conditioning. An EV adds 250 to 300 kWh a month. A pool pump on an 8-hour schedule adds 200 to 400 kWh. A hot tub adds 150 to 250 kWh. If you added any of these in the last two years, your bill did not go up only because of rates.
Did the Base Services Charge raise my bill?
For most single-family homes, no, or only slightly. For a home using 300 kWh a month with rooftop solar, yes, by roughly $10 to $20. The charge is $24.15 whether you use 1 kWh or 2,000, and it is paired with a per-kWh reduction. The Public Advocates Office puts PG&E’s March 2026 restructuring at a 3.7% decrease in the residential average rate for bundled customers; a solar home that buys very few grid kWh gets almost none of that offset. If your bill jumped in October 2025 (SDG&E), November 2025 (SCE) or March 2026 (PG&E), check whether a new “Base Services Charge” line appeared and whether your per-kWh line went down. Detail by utility: PG&E, SCE, SDG&E.
Are California electric bills going up again in 2027?
Yes at PG&E, and the size is contested. PG&E filed its 2027 General Rate Case on May 15, 2025 asking for a $1.237 billion revenue increase in 2027 (about 8%) and 6.1% increases in each of 2028, 2029 and 2030, per the CPUC public participation fact sheet. PG&E says the typical bill rises about 3.6% in 2027. The Public Advocates Office disagrees: counting cost recovery PG&E is expected to request outside the rate case (wildfire liability, billing system, Diablo Canyon), it estimates the average PG&E bill could rise about 16% in 2027 and 30% by 2030. A decision is expected in May 2027.
SCE and SDG&E rates were roughly flat through mid-2026 (SCE down 0.1% on June 1, SDG&E down 2.0% on June 1 after a FERC transmission reduction). The Public Advocates Office forecast lines for both are flat to year-end 2026, with the explicit caveat that forecasts only include requests already filed. Nobody in Sacramento is predicting rates go down.
How do I lower my electric bill this month?
Seven moves, ranked by dollars per hour of effort. The first three are free.
Table 3. What actually moves a California electric bill
| Move | Who it helps | Typical monthly impact | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run your utility’s rate plan comparison tool (uses your last 12 months of smart meter data) | Everyone, especially EV owners not on an EV plan | $10 to $60 | 10 minutes online |
| Move dryer, dishwasher, pool pump and EV charging out of 4 to 9 p.m. | TOU customers | $20 to $60 | Timers and one habit change |
| Pre-cool to 72 at 2 p.m., set 78 at 4 p.m. | Homes with central AC | $15 to $40 in summer | Smart thermostat schedule |
| Enroll in CARE (30 to 35% off) or FERA (18% off) if income-qualified | Households at or below 250% of federal poverty level | $40 to $90 | One form |
| Cut pool pump runtime from 8 hours to 4 to 5 | Pool owners | $30 to $60 | Reprogram the pump |
| Kill standby loads with smart power strips | Everyone | $5 to $15 | Under $50 in hardware |
| Solar plus battery sized for self-consumption | Homes using 500 kWh or more | 70 to 90% of the kWh charges | Quote and permit |
Impact ranges are NRG estimates for a 500 to 900 kWh per month household at June 2026 rates. Rate plan tools: PG&E, SCE, SDG&E.
One more that is automatic: the California Climate Credit. Starting in 2026 it lands on PG&E, SCE and SDG&E bills in August and September instead of April and October. If your August bill looked oddly low and September looks normal, that is why. It is not a rate cut.
Does solar still fix a high electric bill under NEM 3.0?
Yes for the kWh charges, no for the fixed charge, and the payback is longer than it was in 2025. Three things changed and I would rather you hear them from an installer than find out later.
- Export credits are low. Under NEM 3.0 the utility pays avoided-cost rates for exported solar, typically single-digit cents per kWh for most hours. A system designed to export at noon and buy back at 6 p.m. loses money. A system designed to power the house directly and charge a battery for the 4 to 9 p.m. window works.
- The federal 25D credit is gone. The 30% Residential Clean Energy Credit ended for expenditures after December 31, 2025 under the July 2025 federal budget law. If a salesperson quotes you a 2026 purchased system “after the 30% tax credit,” walk away. Leases and PPAs are priced differently because the leasing company may still claim a separate commercial credit; that is one reason a lease can pencil in 2026 when a cash purchase is borderline.
- The $24.15 fixed charge stays. Solar reduces the per-kWh line. It does not touch the Base Services Charge.
Worked example: a Fresno home on PG&E
A 2,100-square-foot home in Fresno on PG&E E-TOU-C uses about 9,000 kWh a year, heavy in summer. At a blended 42 cents per kWh (peak and off-peak mix), the energy charges are about $3,780 a year, plus $290 in Base Services Charge, for roughly $4,070 a year or $339 a month.
A 7.2 kW system with a 13.5 kWh battery, designed for self-consumption, typically displaces 80 to 85% of that home’s grid kWh in Fresno’s sun. Remaining energy charges: about $570 to $760 a year. Plus the fixed charge: total bill about $860 to $1,050 a year. Savings: roughly $3,000 to $3,200 a year.
Installed cost at today’s Central Valley pricing: about $20,900 for the array at $2.90 per watt and about $13,000 for the battery, before any SGIP battery incentive you may qualify for. With no federal credit, that is $33,900 cash and a payback of 10.5 to 11 years at flat rates. If rates keep rising 4% a year, which is below the ten-year trend, payback lands closer to 9 years and the system produces for 25 or more. It is a solid investment. It is not the 6-year payback of 2024, and anyone telling you otherwise is using last year’s math. Current pricing: how much solar panels cost in California and solar battery costs.
[CHART: bar, “Fresno example: annual electricity cost before and after solar plus battery”, x-axis: Before solar, After solar plus battery; y-axis: dollars per year; series: Energy charges 3,780 vs 660; Base Services Charge 290 vs 290. Alt text: “Bar chart showing a Fresno PG&E home’s annual electric cost dropping from about $4,070 to about $950 with solar and a battery”. Takeaway line: “Solar cuts the energy charges by about 80%; the $290 fixed charge stays.”]
FAQ
Why is my PG&E bill so high in 2026?
PG&E’s residential average is 33.7 cents per kWh, up 69% since 2016, and since March 2026 every bill carries a $24.15 Base Services Charge. If your usage is unchanged and the bill still jumped, check whether you are on E-TOU-C paying about 50 cents for 4 to 9 p.m. usage.
Why is my SCE bill so high?
SCE rates doubled between January 2016 and June 2026 (up 101%), the largest increase of the three investor-owned utilities. Summer peak pricing on TOU-D-4-9PM runs near 58 cents per kWh, and hot inland zones average around 700 kWh a month in summer.
Why is my SDG&E bill so high?
SDG&E has the highest residential rate of any major utility in the continental U.S. at 45.5 cents per kWh (June 2026), and its 4 to 9 p.m. peak applies seven days a week, weekends included.
Is $300 a month a high electric bill in California?
Yes. At SCE’s average rate, $300 is about 800 kWh, roughly 50% more than the typical California home. Bills that size usually involve central AC in a hot zone, an EV, a pool or peak-hour usage.
Will solar eliminate my electric bill?
No. It can eliminate 70 to 90% of the energy charges when paired with a battery and sized for self-consumption, but the $24.15 fixed charge and non-bypassable charges remain.
Are electricity rates going up in 2027?
PG&E has requested increases for 2027 through 2030 that the utility says add about 3.6% to a typical bill in 2027; the CPUC Public Advocates Office estimates the all-in impact at about 16%. SCE and SDG&E have no approved 2027 increase yet, but both file new requests regularly.
What to do next
Pull up your last 12 months of bills and run the rate plan test above. If you are at or above 500 kWh a month and on PG&E, SCE or SDG&E, get a 2-minute quote and we will model your actual meter data against a self-consumption design, with 2026 numbers and no tax credit that no longer exists. If your usage is under 300 kWh, do the free moves first; solar is not the answer yet and we will tell you that too. Our home battery page explains how the 4 to 9 p.m. window is handled.