What's the Average Electric Bill in California in 2026?

The short answer: about $161 a month — and climbing

The most recent full-year federal data puts California's average residential electric bill at $160.86 per month (EIA, 2024) — on average monthly usage of just 503 kWh. The average U.S. household used 863 kWh — 72% more electricity — and still paid less: $142.26 per month.

Rates have kept climbing since that data closed. As of April 2026, California's average residential rate is 35.25¢/kWh (EIA) — 87% above the national average of 18.83¢. At that rate, the same 503 kWh of usage costs about $177 a month before fixed charges and local differences.

What your household actually pays comes down to three things: which utility serves your address, when you use power (almost every California home is now on a time-of-use plan), and how much of your own power you generate.

Your utility decides your rate: SCE vs. PG&E vs. SDG&E

The statewide average hides a wide spread. As of March 2026, the CPUC's Public Advocates Office puts average residential rates at 33.7¢/kWh for SCE, 34.5¢ for PG&E, and 45.7¢ for SDG&E — and every one of them has risen sharply over five and ten years.

At SDG&E's 45.7¢, the state-average 503 kWh runs roughly $230 a month — among the highest residential rates of any major U.S. utility.

LA, Orange County, San Diego: what changes by region

Los Angeles is split. The City of Los Angeles is served by LADWP, a municipal utility that sets its own — typically lower — rates, while most surrounding LA County cities are on SCE.

Orange County is mostly SCE territory, with two exceptions worth knowing: Anaheim runs its own municipal utility (Anaheim Public Utilities), and the far south coast around San Clemente is served by SDG&E.

San Diego County is SDG&E — which is why San Diego households feel rate increases hardest, and why solar-plus-battery economics are strongest there.

This patchwork is why 'average bill' numbers quoted by city vary so much: the same 700 kWh month can differ by $80 or more depending on which side of a utility boundary you live on.

Why California bills keep rising

Over the five years to March 2026, average residential rates rose 39% at SCE, 57% at PG&E, and 43% at SDG&E; over ten years, all three roughly doubled or came close (SCE +69%, PG&E +101%, SDG&E +98%). The CPUC's own quarterly rate reports track the drivers — wildfire mitigation, grid hardening, and transmission spending all flow into the delivery side of your bill.

The other structural change is time-of-use pricing. Most California homes are now billed by when they use power, and the 4–9 PM evening window — when solar production falls off and everyone is home — is priced highest. Our SCE peak-hours guide breaks down the exact windows for SCE, SDG&E, and PG&E.

What a 'high' bill looks like in 2026

At SCE's average rate, a $300 monthly bill is roughly 850–890 kWh — well above the state's 503 kWh average. In practice that usually means an EV charging at home, a pool pump, or heavy summer air conditioning rather than waste.

Bills of $400–500+ almost always involve an EV plus electric heating or a pool. Those are the households where system sizing matters most — and where shifting usage away from the 4–9 PM peak pays back fastest.

On the other end: if your bill is consistently under about $120, solar can still make sense, but the payback math is slower — an honest installer will tell you that up front.

What actually lowers a California electric bill

First, check your rate plan — utilities let you compare TOU plans against your actual usage history, and the right plan alone can trim a bill without changing anything else.

Second, move what you can out of the 4–9 PM window: dishwasher, laundry, EV charging, and pool pumps are the easy shifts. The biggest loads are a short list — our guide to what uses the most electricity in a home ranks them.

Third, make your own power. Under NEM 3.0, the value of solar comes from using what you generate instead of exporting it: panels cover your daytime load, and a home battery stores the midday surplus to power the expensive evening peak. That's the design principle behind nearly every system we build.

If you want the math on your actual bill — not a state average — we read your SCE, SDG&E, or PG&E bill line by line and design to your tariff. Start with our guide on how to read your utility bill, or send us the bill and we'll do it for you.