The typical San Diego Gas & Electric customer’s monthly bill climbed to just under $200 in 2026.
Sticker shock
If you’re a typical SDG&E customer, you likely paid about $185 for last month’s electricity bill. That’s more than six times what you would have paid for the same usage in the late ‘aughts. In 2009, when rates hit a low, it would have cost you under $20, adjusted for inflation, to use the same amount of electricity — but that’s been trending up ever since. Customers did not typically pay $20 in 2009, according to SDG&E. That amount was calculated by a model to estimate the cost of average current usage at 2009 baseline rates.
The breakdown
- California lawmakers capped utility rates during the energy crisis in 2001, but passed a law to lift those limits in October 2013, allowing companies to raise rates again.
- According to SDG&E spokesperson Anthony Wagner: "The biggest long-term drivers of rates have been wildfire mitigation, clean energy mandates, replacing aging infrastructure and funding for public purpose programs — much of it required by state law and regulators."
- 2015-2020: SDG&E changed its pricing structure, narrowing the gap between what the highest energy users pay and what the lower users pay, and shifting more of the company’s costs onto lower users than they were used to paying.
- October 2025: Following new state legislation, SDG&E restructures residential bills with a "base services charge," resulting in higher fixed costs regardless of energy usage.
- The company’s annual profit more than tripled between 2007 and 2024. It dipped last year because of a one-time, costly regulatory decision.
By the numbers
- The current SDG&E rates, not including those new base charges, are almost two and a half times the national average. California is second only to Hawaii in average electric rates for a residential customer, and SDG&E exceeds the state average.
- According to Wagner, SDG&E customers use far less electricity than the national average because of smaller homes, a mild climate, and energy efficiency changes. Recuperating fixed costs from less usage requires higher rates. Wagner estimated if SDG&E’s electric grid was in an area where consumption was closer to the national average, their rates would decrease by over 50%.
How to save on your SDG&E bill
- The California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program can provide you with a discount on your monthly energy bill. If you're currently receiving public assistance, or you've recently lost your job, you might qualify. If your income is a little higher than the limit for the CARE program, you might still qualify for the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) program.
- Weatherproof doors and windows, use blackout curtains, and seal door leaks to keep the temperature comfortable using less air or heat.
- If you pay the up-front cost of installing solar panels, it could save money in the long run — but it could take about a decade to break even.
- Or, as one local Reddit user suggested: “Live in the cold and dark.”
How this story was calculated: The average rate for a typical SDG&E customer in a given year was taken as an average between seasonal rates for customers using the lowest tier energy (baseline or up to 130% baseline depending on the year). That was then adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index for January of that year compared to January 2026. Net income is a specific type of profit that is reported to shareholders annually. Rates on the profit graph were not adjusted for inflation in order to compare apples to apples.
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