Average electric bill in California: what the data actually shows

• California’s residential electricity price was 33.25¢ per kWh in May 2026 — the most recent month published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
• That is about 1.8× the U.S. average of 18.44¢, and the second-highest of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions. Only Hawaii is higher.
• There is no single “average California bill.” Reported averages for June 2026 range from $69 to $254 a month depending on utility, climate zone and CARE status.
• California’s price was essentially flat year over year (33.25¢ vs 33.29¢ in May 2025, −0.1%) while the U.S. average rose 6.2%.
• Your utility matters more than your house size. The statewide average blends municipal utilities such as LADWP with the investor-owned utilities.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes an average residential price for every state each month. For May 2026, the most recent month available, California’s residential price was 33.25¢ per kWh, against a U.S. average of 18.44¢.

We cross-checked that figure against EIA’s own underlying data rather than taking it at face value. In the same month California’s residential sector bought 5,764 thousand megawatt-hours and paid $1,916 million for it. Dividing one by the other gives 33.24¢ per kWh — the published price, reproduced from the raw sales and revenue tables.

The utilities report estimated average bills to the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office quarterly, broken out by a sample hot and cool climate zone in each service territory and by whether the household receives the CARE low-income discount. These are the figures as of June 1, 2026.

Three things fall out of this table that a single statewide number cannot show.

1. The spread within California is 3.7×. A Non-CARE household in SCE’s hot zone 15 averages $254 a month. A CARE household in PG&E’s cool zone averages $69. Both are California; both are “average.”

2. Climate beats utility. Within SCE alone, hot zone 15 versus cool zone 6 is $254 against $152 for the same customer class. The report notes why: zone 15 households average around 700 kWh a month, zone 6 around 385 kWh. Nearly all of that gap is air conditioning, not rates.

3. SDG&E runs backwards. Its coastal Non-CARE customers average $156 — more than its desert customers at $130. The report attributes this to coastal customers using more electricity in winter. Any page that assumes hotter always means higher has this one wrong.

If you want one number to compare yourself against, use the row that matches your utility, your climate and your income status — not the statewide average.

Year-over-year, the interesting movement is not in California. Between May 2025 and May 2026 the California residential price went from 33.29¢ to 33.25¢ — a fall of 0.1%, effectively flat. Over the same twelve months the U.S. average rose from 17.37¢ to 18.44¢, up 6.2%.

The practical reading: California remains extremely expensive in absolute terms, but for this particular month the national average closed part of the gap rather than California pulling further ahead. One month is not a trend, and California’s prices move with approved rate changes rather than smoothly — so treat this as a dated observation, not a forecast.

Before you compare two published averages, check which of these three they used. A page quoting a low figure and a page quoting a high one can both be arithmetically correct on the same data.

What we will not do is print one number and call it the California average. The honest version is the price — which is published and checkable — and your own usage.

Monthly energy cost = your monthly kWh × your price per kWh. At California’s May 2026 statewide residential price of 33.25¢:

Two things this deliberately leaves out, because they are specific to your account and cannot be averaged honestly: fixed charges (a daily service charge applies on most plans regardless of usage) and taxes and local surcharges. Your actual statement will sit above these figures for that reason.

It also uses a single statewide price. Your own rate depends on your utility, your rate plan, the season, and — on time-of-use plans — when in the day you use electricity. For an SCE household that last factor can matter more than the total: see our comparison of SCE time-of-use plans and, for the block of usage priced most favourably, our SCE baseline region lookup.

The CPUC’s independent ratepayer advocate reports that more than one in five households served by California’s three large investor-owned utilities are behind on their energy bills — 2,424,244 customers, or 20.6%, owing an average of $619.

This reframes the question. “Average bill” suggests a typical household comfortably paying a typical amount. For roughly a fifth of these customers, the bill is not being paid in full at all.

The Public Advocates Office names three primary statewide drivers, citing the CPUC’s SB 695 report:

1. Wildfire mitigation and wildfire liability costs
2. Transmission and distribution investments
3. Rooftop solar incentives (“net energy metering”)

We install solar for a living, and we are publishing the regulator’s third item unedited. Cost-shift from net energy metering is contested — solar advocates dispute both its size and its framing — but it appears on the CPUC’s own list, and leaving it out to make this page more comfortable would make it less accurate. It is also part of why NEM 3.0 replaced NEM 2.0.

• CARE — a 30–35% discount on the electric rate. With exemptions from certain costs and the Base Services Charge treatment, the Public Advocates Office states CARE customers see total discounts of approximately 40%. Eligibility: household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, or enrolment in a qualifying programme such as CalFresh, Medi-Cal, SSI or WIC.
• FERA — an 18% discount on electricity for households between 200% and 250% of the federal poverty guidelines. Offered by SCE, SDG&E and PG&E only.

What it is actually worth — taken from the reported bills above rather than from a percentage applied to a statewide average:

• SCE, hot zone 15: $254 → $165 — about $89 a month, roughly $1,070 a year.
• SCE, cool zone 6: $152 → $81 — about $71 a month.
• PG&E, cool zone: $124 → $69 — about $55 a month.
• SDG&E, desert: $130 → $126 — only about $4, which shows the discount is not uniform and depends on the underlying usage and rate mix.

These are differences between reported average bills for the two customer groups in the same zone, so they reflect both the discount and any usage differences between those groups. They are not a quoted discount for your own account.

• Your actual bill. It depends on your utility, rate plan, baseline allocation, season, time-of-day usage, fixed charges and local taxes. Your statement is the authority.
• A single statewide average bill. No such figure exists that is both honest and useful — see the three methods above.
• Whether your bill is “too high.” That is a usage question, not a price question. Our California usage comparison answers it directly.
• Next month’s price. EIA publishes history, not forecasts, and California rates change through regulatory decisions.

Solar reduces the kilowatt-hours you buy; it does not remove the fixed charges, taxes and non-bypassable charges that survive regardless of production. That residual is why a well-sized system produces a small bill rather than no bill.

Two rules decide how much it helps. First, which utility bills you: under California’s Net Billing Tariff, exported energy is worth less than the energy you avoid buying, so self-consumption matters more than raw production — see how the NEM 3.0 export rate is set. LADWP customers are on a different basis entirely. Second, the federal credit has changed: per the IRS, the Residential Clean Energy Credit is not available for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, so any page still quoting a 30% federal credit for a new system is out of date.

Figures on this page come from the primary sources below and, where noted, from Cali Energy calculations using the stated assumptions. Rates, incentives, and program terms change; each was verified August 11, 2026.

1. EIA — Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (average price by state, May 2026)
2. EIA — Table 5.4.A (retail sales by state, May 2026)
3. EIA — Table 5.5.A (revenue by state, May 2026)
4. EIA — Electric Power Monthly (publication home)
5. IRS — Residential Clean Energy Credit
6. LADWP — residential electric rates
7. SCE — time-of-use residential rate plans
8. CPUC Public Advocates Office — Q2 2026 Electric Rates Report (PDF)
9. CPUC — CARE/FERA Program
10. SCE — CARE & FERA discounted rates