Electricity rates in California

Households in California pay an average of 34.74¢ per kilowatt-hour, above the national average of 18.34¢. That is up 3.4% from 33.59¢ in the same month a year earlier.

What that price means in practice

A price per kilowatt-hour is hard to feel. Here is the same number expressed as money. The most expensive item in the table below is electric furnace, which at 34.74¢ costs about $5,706 a year in California against $3,012 at the national average — an extra $2,694 a year for the identical appliance used in the identical way.

Widen that to the five heaviest users in a typical home and the gap compounds: about $14,183 a year in California versus $7,488 nationally. None of that is a difference in how much electricity you use. It is the same consumption at a different price.

Prices here rose 3.4% over the year to June 2026, against +5.0% nationally. On the five-appliance basket above that shift is worth roughly $470 a year by itself.

What appliances cost to run in California

Estimated annual cost at 34.74¢ per kilowatt-hour, using typical wattage and usage. Open any appliance to adjust both.

Prices here moved +3.4% over the past year. See whether California rose more than the rest of the country.

A statewide average is not what any single household pays. Find the rate on your own bill to see how far California’s average sits from yours, or read why the spread between states is this wide.

Business electricity rates in California

Businesses do not pay the residential rate. EIA publishes commercial and industrial averages separately, and the gap between them is one of the larger and less discussed differences in US electricity pricing.

Residential

34.74¢

homes

Commercial

27.33¢

shops, offices, restaurants

Industrial

20.74¢

manufacturing, large plant

A small business in California paying the commercial average of 27.33¢ pays about 21% less per kilowatt-hour than a household here. On a commercial refrigeration or HVAC load running most of the day, that difference compounds into real money — a single 3 kW load running 12 hours a day comes to roughly $3,591 a year at the commercial rate.

Commercial and industrial customers are usually billed on demand charges and time-of-use tariffs as well as per kilowatt-hour, so a real bill will not match a flat average. Treat these as a baseline for comparing states, not as a quote.

Statewide average across all residential customers in California for June 2026. Your own utility’s price may differ, and the figure excludes fixed charges and taxes. Source: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A.