Electricity Cost in California: 2024 Electric Rates | EnergySage (2024)

In 2022, the average solar payback period in CA is about 5.92 years – this is the point in time at which your solar investment will start to earn you money.

In most cases, you will still have an electric bill with solar. Even if your solar system offsets 100 percent of your electricity use, as long as your property remains grid-connected, your utility will still send you a bill. However, it’s possible that your bill will be $0 or even negative if your electricity supply to the grid is more than you pull (depending on the incentives available in your location).

In most cases, your monthly payment towards your solar loan will be less than your electric bill – this means that if you install a solar system with a $0-down loan, you can start saving immediately! However, you’ll still pay more over the lifetime of your system with a solar loan compared to an upfront cash payment due to the interest that accrues.

If you live in an area with retail energy providers (REPs), you may choose to switch from your standard electricity utility to a REP. There are two main options for REP contracts: fixed and variable rates. If you choose a fixed-rate plan, you’ll pay a fixed price per kWh that will remain throughout the duration of your contract. On the other hand, if you choose a variable rate plan, the rate you pay for energy will fluctuate based on the wholesale price of electricity from your energy company, which represents how much power plants charge electric companies to buy the electricity they produce.

If you’re on a demand charge electric rate, your electric bill will be based on the maximum amount of power you use over a single time period (like an hour or fifteen minute period) in a given month. You’ll still be billed for your monthly consumption, but the rate you owe for consumption will be low compared to a typical electric bill; thus, the best way to reduce the amount you owe each month is to decrease the amount of electricity you use all at once – like by installing a solar or solar-plus-storage system.

Time-of-use electric rates are an electricity plan designed to incentivize you to use less electricity when the cost of generation is high. Time-of-use rates follow a set schedule, resulting in your electricity provider charging you more for your electricity consumption when the cost of generation and demand for electricity are high (i.e., the afternoon of a hot summer day) and less when both of these are low (i.e., in the middle of the night). You can save money in two ways: by being thoughtful about when you’re running certain appliances and waiting for off-peak times when cheap electricity is available, and by installing a solar battery to reduce the amount of electricity you pull from the grid when rates are high.

When your solar panels are producing more electricity than you’re consuming, you can use that excess energy to charge your solar battery. Now let’s say your electricity usage is more than your panels are able to produce when electric rates are surging – with a solar battery, you can choose to use the energy you’ve stored rather than pull from the grid, protecting you from surge rates and high energy costs, and getting you the best electric rate possible.

As a renter, it’s likely that you won’t be able to install solar on your property. However, signing up for a community solar project saves subscribers between 5-15% on average on annual electricity costs and supports local green energy development. Additionally, as a renter you can still use plug-in batteries – storage systems that plug directly into a wall outlet – to charge or run devices when electricity rates are surging.

If you subscribe to a community solar project, you’ll likely receive two separate monthly bills: one from your utility company and one from your community solar provider. Your community solar bill will include charges for the energy your share of the project generates. This generated electricity will then show up as credits on your electric bill, lowering your overall cost.

Your savings will vary monthly with community solar because the amount of electricity you’re consuming and the amount of electricity your share of the project is generating likely won’t match up 1:1. In summer months, you’ll probably receive more credits than you’ll use. However, in winter months, you may consume more electricity than your share of the project generates – at which point you can rollover any unused credits towards these bills. So, while you might not save every month, overall, you can expect annual savings with community solar.

In most cases, it’s free to sign up for a community solar project and you’ll receive a fixed discount on any energy you buy from the project. If you need to cancel your contract eventually, there might be some cancellation fees to pay, but those are becoming much rarer, and may even be waived in certain situations.

Yes! WattBuy is an energy marketplace that allows you to compare electricity plans from PUC-licensed companies. If you live in one of the states listed below, you could save up to 40% on your electric bills by switching with WattBuy:
CT, DE, IL, ME, MD, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, TX, VA, DC