Data Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, State Energy Data System; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Analysis by CEC Economics
Highlight
- In 2023, California had the eleventh-lowest average monthly electricity bill for industrial customers. The average monthly bill in California ($4,513) was 28.1% lower than the U.S. average—even though the cost per kilowatt-hour ($0.19/kWh) was more than double the national average of $0.08/kWh.
Challenges
- In contrast to its price advantage in the industrial sector, California's average monthly commercial electricity bill ($1,274) has become considerably more expensive relative to the U.S. average ($763) during the last decade—from 22.9% higher in 2013 to 67.0% higher in 2023. This means California’s businesses had the second-highest average bill among the 50 states in 2023; only Hawaii, which also had the highest electricity retail rates for the commercial sector, had a higher average monthly bill than California. This rise can be attributed to a disparity between the growth in the number of customers and the surge in prices during the same period.
- California households also had high electricity bills in 2023, averaging $145 per month. Moreover, California's once-held advantage of having a lower average residential electricity bill compared to the rest of the U.S. has also vanished in the wake of the pandemic. In 2013, residential electricity bills were 19.8% below the national average, but it has shifted to 5.8% higher than the U.S. average in 2023. From 2013 to 2023, residential electricity rates increased by 44.6% in California and by 2.3% in the U.S. Residential rates grew in both California and the U.S.—by 9.9% and 2.6%, respectively—from 2022 to 2023.
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