Why is my electric bill so high?

Southern California power is some of the most expensive in the country: SCE averages 34.4¢ per kWh and SDG&E 46.4¢, against a U.S. average of about 18¢. SCE's figure is from its June 1, 2026 rate change (SCE), SDG&E's from its April 2026 rate alert (SDG&E), and the national number is EIA's preliminary August 2026 average of 18.16¢ (EIA). So part of the answer is simply where you live. The rest depends on your plan, your habits and a few billing changes that landed over the past year. Most of them you can check in ten minutes with last year's bill next to this one.

Start here: is it how much, or how much it cost?

Every bill has two numbers that matter more than the total: the kWh you used and the dollars you paid. If kWh went up, your home used more power. If kWh held steady and the dollars still climbed, something about the price changed. That one comparison tells you which half of this page to read.

Reason 1: the price per kWh keeps moving

Rates change often, usually in small steps that are easy to miss. LADWP alone updates its adjustment factors four times a year (LADWP). SDG&E's April 2026 alert raised its average from 45.7¢ to 46.4¢ and named two main drivers: recovering the cost of wildfire safety work under its 2019 to 2022 Wildfire Mitigation Plans, and rate design changes from its latest general rate case (SDG&E). SCE's June 2026 change added $380.69 million for wildfire liability self-insurance, which other reductions more than offset, leaving its average roughly flat at 34.4¢ (SCE).

So yes, wildfire costs are in your rate. You won't see them as a line item. They're spread across every kWh.

LADWP is city-owned and sets its own prices. On its standard R-1A plan, the Tier 1 price for October through December 2026 is about 27.3¢ per kWh, up from about 24.6¢ in the same months of 2025. Every tier and every season went up by roughly 1.6¢ to 2.7¢ from 2025 to 2026 (LADWP rate table).

Reason 2: a fixed charge that doesn't care how much you use

In late 2025, SCE and SDG&E bills were restructured. Each added a Base Services Charge, billed by the day, and lowered the price of each kWh to make room for it.

• SDG&E, starting October 2025: about $24 a month for most customers, about $12 for FERA and about $6 for CARE. SDG&E says the change cut the price per kWh by about 10%, roughly 5¢ on delivery (SDG&E).
• SCE, starting November 2025: $24.15 a month for most customers, $12.08 for FERA and $6.00 for CARE, with the price of each kWh down by about 10% (SCE).

SCE is direct about who wins and who doesn't: low users may see higher bills, medium users little change, and high users and CARE or FERA households may see lower ones (SCE). If you live alone in a small, efficient home, the fixed charge is a big share of your bill, and that's probably why it feels high even in a mild month.

LADWP doesn't have this charge. It has a Power Access Charge instead, a monthly fixed charge from $2.30 to $22.70 set by your highest monthly use over the past year. It resets every October 1, so one hot month can raise it for the next twelve (LADWP, rate table).

Reason 3: when you use power matters as much as how much

Many SCE and SDG&E homes are on time-of-use plans, where the same kWh costs more at dinner than at lunch. On SCE's TOU-D-PRIME plan, a kWh at 6 p.m. on a summer weekday costs more than twice what it costs at noon (SCE). On SDG&E, 4 to 9 p.m. is on-peak every day of the week, weekends included (SDG&E).

That's why a hot week can hurt so much. AC runs hardest in late afternoon, exactly when the price peaks, and SCE's summer season, June through September, carries its highest on-peak prices (SCE).

Reason 4: tiers and baseline

Some plans still charge more once you pass a set amount of use. On SCE's TOU-D 4-9 PM and 5-8 PM plans, each kWh inside your monthly baseline allocation gets a 9¢ credit. Use past that allocation and the credit stops, so the same kWh costs more. TOU-D-PRIME has no baseline credit (SCE).

LADWP's R-1A plan is tiered outright. In cooler Zone 1 areas on a monthly bill, Tier 1 is the first 350 kWh, Tier 2 the next 700, and Tier 3 everything above 1,050. Hotter Zone 2 areas get bigger tiers, and bimonthly bills double them (LADWP). From June through September, Tier 3 jumps. In July to September 2026 it's about 41¢ per kWh, against about 26.4¢ for Tier 1 (LADWP). A big AC month can push your last few hundred kWh into the most expensive tier.

Reason 5: the Climate Credit moved

This one fools a lot of people in 2026. The California Climate Credit used to show up on electric bills in April and October. In April 2026 the CPUC moved it to August and September for SCE, SDG&E and PG&E, to land in the months when bills peak (CPUC). This year SCE customers get $36.00 in each of those two months, and SDG&E customers get $49.36 (CPUC).

The upshot: if your April or October 2026 bill looks worse than the same month in 2025, a missing credit may be part of it. Your August and September bills will look better than your usage alone would suggest. The credit doesn't go away. It just moved.

Fixes that cost nothing

Try these before you spend a dollar on equipment.

1. Check you're on the right plan

SCE's Rate Plan Comparison Tool lines up the plans you qualify for side by side, priced on your own past use. You need 8 months of usage data to run it (SCE). If you have an EV, a heat pump or a home battery, TOU-D-PRIME's low off-peak prices may beat the standard plans. SDG&E lists its residential plans and their hours on its pricing plans page (SDG&E).

2. Move flexible use out of 4 to 9 p.m.

Dishwasher, laundry, EV charging and pool pumps are the easy ones. Run them midday or late at night. On a hot day, cooling the house a few degrees extra before 4 p.m. and letting it drift up during the peak can cut on-peak use without much discomfort.

3. See if you qualify for CARE or FERA

CARE takes 32.5% off an SCE electric bill and FERA takes 18%. From June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027, CARE covers households of one or two earning up to $43,280 a year, and FERA covers the band just above it, up to $54,100. The limits rise with household size, to $66,000 and $82,500 for four people (SCE). SDG&E's CARE discount is 30% or more, and its FERA discount is 18% (SDG&E). Both programs also cut the Base Services Charge. LADWP runs its own income-qualified discount, called EZ-SAVE (LADWP). The CPUC's program page is at cpuc.ca.gov/care.

4. Watch your peak month on LADWP

Because the Power Access Charge follows your highest month of the year, keeping one heat wave from spiking your use pays off for twelve months, not just one.

Where solar and a battery fit

Once the plan is right and your habits are tuned, what's left is mostly the cost of the kWh themselves. That's the part solar goes after. Panels cover your daytime use directly. Under California's current billing rules, power you send back to SCE or SDG&E earns only a few cents per kWh on average (installer estimates), so a battery that stores midday power for the 4 to 9 p.m. stretch is usually where the bigger savings come from. Our NEM 3.0 guide explains the billing, and the battery guide covers sizing and cost.

Be clear-eyed about the limits. Solar can't touch the Base Services Charge, and it doesn't make sense for every home. If your bill is mostly fixed charges, the payoff shrinks.

If you do look, size the system to what you use now plus what's coming. Our guide on how many solar panels you need walks through the math, and the utility pages for SCE, SDG&E and LADWP cover each one's solar rules.