EV charging at home in California: what it really costs per mile in 2026

• Charging overnight costs about 6.5–9¢ per mile in the LA area for an efficient EV — against 18.4¢ per mile for a 30 mpg gas car at California's current $5.52/gallon.
• On LADWP the price of an EV kilowatt-hour depends on how much your house already uses. The tiered R-1A rate charges car charging at whatever tier it lands in on top of the household — 35.5¢/kWh for a typical home this summer, 45.1¢ for a heavy one, tax included.
• Switching to LADWP's time-of-use rate (R-1B) and charging after 8 p.m. prices that same energy at a flat 26.5¢/kWh in summer, tax included — the single biggest lever for a Los Angeles EV owner, and one most guides never mention.
• On SCE the lever is the clock, not the tier. TOU-D-PRIME is about 26¢/kWh off-peak and about 59¢ during the 4–9 p.m. summer peak — a 2.3× swing on identical energy.
• Electricity is not always cheaper. Charge a thirsty EV during SCE's summer peak and it can cost more per mile than gasoline. The model below shows exactly where that line falls.

LADWP's standard residential rate, R-1A, is tiered: the first block of monthly kilowatt-hours is cheap, the next block costs more, and in summer a third block costs more still. Your car does not get the cheap block. It arrives on top of everything the house already used, so it is billed at the highest tier your household reaches.

That is why the same 250 kWh of charging can cost noticeably different amounts in two houses on the same street:

On the SCE side the plan that matters for an EV household is TOU-D-PRIME. SCE's own rate-plan page states its highest rates run 4–9 p.m., that it carries a $0.79 per day Base Services Charge, and that unlike the standard TOU plans it comes with no baseline credit. Summer energy runs roughly 26¢/kWh off-peak against about 59¢ on-peak; the plan comparison and how PRIME differs from TOU-D-4-9PM and 5-8PM is in SCE time-of-use plans compared.

“EVs are cheaper to fuel” is true for almost every overnight charger in California. It stops being true in one specific combination: a power-hungry EV charged during SCE's 4–9 p.m. summer peak.

A Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is rated by the EPA at 43 kWh per 100 miles. Drive 1,000 miles a month and it needs 430 kWh. At PRIME’s 4–9 p.m. peak — which on that plan applies all year, not only in summer — that is $253.70. The same 1,000 miles in a 30 mpg gas car costs $184.00 at $5.52 a gallon. Move that identical charging to the off-peak window and it falls to $111.80 — less than half the gas bill, and less than half the peak-hour cost of the very same electricity.

Both sides of that comparison use the same 1,000 miles and the same month. The EV figures exclude the $0.79/day basic charge and the gas figure excludes oil changes and other maintenance, so it is an energy-to-energy comparison, not a total cost of ownership.

1. Schedule the charge, don't plug and hope. Every EV and every Level 2 charger can start charging at a set time. On SCE set it after 9 p.m.; on LADWP R-1B set it after 8 p.m. This single setting is worth more than any hardware choice.
2. Find the number your car actually uses. The EPA figure on fueleconomy.gov is in kWh per 100 miles and is measured at the wall, so it already includes charging losses — do not add another allowance on top.
3. Check which tier your house lands in. Take the kWh from your LADWP bill, divide by the days in the period, and multiply by 30. If that number plus your charging crosses 1,050 kWh in Zone 1 or 1,500 in Zone 2 during summer, your car is being billed at 40.968¢ before tax — and R-1B is worth a serious look.
4. Ask about the LADWP EV discount. LADWP's Schedule R-1 provides a discount “on the block of energy designated by the Department as necessary for basic vehicle charging,” with proof of vehicle registration and charging location required. The schedule does not publish the discount amount or the metering arrangement, so ask LADWP directly what applies to your address rather than relying on figures quoted in third-party guides.

It does not price the charger or its installation — that is in what a Level 2 charger costs to install in Los Angeles. It does not tell you whether your electrical panel can carry one; see planning an all-electric home. It does not size a solar array for your driving — that is how many solar panels it takes to charge an EV. And it does not model public DC fast charging, which is priced entirely differently and is usually two to three times the cost of charging at home.

The rates here are residential schedules published for 2026 and change on their own timetables — LADWP adjusts quarterly, SCE through the CPUC. Both utilities publish the current numbers; the links are in the sources below.

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 September 4, 2026.

1. LADWP — Schedule R-1 Residential Service (R-1A and R-1B Total Consumption Charge tables, 2026)
2. LADWP — Residential Electric Rates (tier thresholds, zones, R-1B time periods)
3. SCE — Time-of-Use Residential Rate Plans (TOU-D-PRIME: 4–9 p.m. peak, $0.79/day, no baseline credit)
4. U.S. EPA / DOE — fueleconomy.gov, EPA combined kWh per 100 miles by model
5. U.S. EPA — Fuel Economy and EV Range Testing (EV energy measured at the wall outlet)
6. U.S. EIA — Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices, California
7. CPUC — Net Billing Tariff (NEM 3.0)
8. IRS — Residential Clean Energy Credit