Average Home Electricity Use in California

Both rows below come from the same EIA table (2024 Average Monthly Bill – Residential), so the comparison is like-for-like:

So a California household uses far less electricity than the typical American home but pays a slightly higher bill. Per year, that is about 6,040 kWh in California against about 10,360 kWh nationally. Among the 50 states and D.C., only Hawaii used less per home (495 kWh a month) — and only Hawaii paid more per kWh.

Prices have kept rising since: EIA’s preliminary July 2026 figure for California homes is 33.61¢/kWh, about 84% above the U.S. average of 18.31¢. For what that means for bills, see the average electric bill in California.

Sources: EIA 2024 Average Monthly Bill, Residential (Table 5A) · EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (data for July 2026, released September 24, 2026) · verified October 6, 2026. Per-day and per-year figures are Cali Energy conversions of the monthly averages.

Enter your average use (from a bill or your utility’s online account), per month or per day, and pick your utility to see how it compares with that utility’s residential average and the U.S. average.

EIA’s annual utility survey (Form EIA-861) gives residential sales and customer counts for every utility. Dividing one by the other gives the average use per home in each service area for 2024:

Climate drives much of the spread: SDG&E’s largely coastal territory averages under 300 kWh a month, while the Imperial Irrigation District in the desert averages more than 1,100. Around Los Angeles, SCE and LADWP sit close to the state average. EIA’s early-release 2025 data put LADWP at 469 kWh a month; EIA advises against adding those preliminary figures into state totals. To find out which utility serves an address, see LA-area electric utilities by city.

The annual average hides a strong summer peak. EIA’s monthly survey (Form EIA-861M) shows average use per California home in each month of 2024:

The twelve months add up to about 6,030 kWh, consistent with the annual average. The lowest months are spring, when neither heating nor cooling runs much; the highest are July and August. EIA’s preliminary figures show a lower average of about 480 kWh a month for 2025, with a lower summer peak (572 kWh in July 2025 against 691 a year earlier), and about 487 kWh for the twelve months through July 2026.

The California Energy Commission’s 2019 Residential Appliance Saturation Study (RASS) combined a survey of homes with their billing data and weather. Its averages show how much the type of home and the climate zone matter:

A single-family home averages about 630 kWh a month, an apartment in a building of five or more units about 310, and within SCE’s territory the highest-use zone averages more than 1.5 times the lowest. Much of that climate gap is cooling; for how much air conditioning adds, see how much electricity AC uses.

The same study estimated yearly use for each appliance in homes that have it, and how many homes have it. Multiplying the two gives each appliance’s share of an average home’s use:

Refrigeration and the many small loads in a home outweigh cooling on a yearly basis, even in SCE territory. Space and water heating barely register because most California homes heat with gas: in the survey, about 13% of SCE homes and 14% of LADWP homes had electric-resistance heat, and 4% and 6% a heat pump. Those shares, and EV charging, have grown since 2019 — an electrified home with an EV can use far more than any average in this article.

Several factors combine, and researchers disagree about how much each one matters:

• Mild climate. Most Californians live in coastal and southern zones with modest heating and cooling needs, and most homes heat with gas rather than electricity.
• Household size and housing. California households have stayed larger than the national average while households elsewhere shrank, and more people live in apartments and smaller homes.
• Building and appliance standards. California’s building energy code (Title 24, Part 6) is updated every three years, and the state sets its own appliance efficiency standards (Title 20).
• Rooftop solar. California homes had about 13,900 MW of small-scale solar at the end of 2025, which EIA estimates generated about 23.6 TWh that year — equal to roughly 29% of residential grid sales (81.9 TWh). Power used on site never shows up as “sales,” so the grid-measured averages in this article understate how much electricity solar homes actually consume.
• High prices. At nearly twice the national rate, every kWh costs Californians more, which gives households a strong reason to conserve.

Sources: Levinson, “California energy efficiency: Lessons for the rest of the world, or not?” (Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2014) · EIA-861M small-scale solar estimates · CEC Building Energy Efficiency Standards · CEC Title 20 appliance standards · verified October 6, 2026.

California’s 2025 Energy Code generally requires solar PV for certain newly constructed single-family buildings, subject to defined exceptions (for example, insufficient solar access or roof area). Whether it applies to a specific project is confirmed through the applicable code process and the local building authority — it is not an automatic requirement for every new home.

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 October 6, 2026.

1. EIA — 2024 Average Monthly Bill, Residential (Table 5A)
2. EIA — Form EIA-861 annual data (2024 utility sales and customers)
3. EIA — Form EIA-861M monthly data (sales, customers, small-scale solar)
4. EIA — Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (July 2026 prices)
5. CEC — 2019 RASS, Volume 2: Results
6. CEC — 2019 RASS, Project Overview
7. Levinson (2014) — California energy efficiency: Lessons for the rest of the world, or not?
8. CEC — Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24)
9. CEC — Appliance Efficiency Regulations (Title 20)
10. CEC — 2025 Single-Family Solar PV (Energy Code)