Average electric bill in California
A typical California household pays
$160a month · $1920 a year
That is 7% above the national average of $149, the 21st highest bill of the 51 states we track. It covers 488 kilowatt hours a month at 33.25¢ each.
Nobody pays the average
Dearest — September 2025
$202
Cheapest — November 2025
$134
The dearest month costs $69 more than the cheapest — 52% higher and it is air conditioning that does it. California runs about 1,200 cooling degree days a year, so the summer bill is where any efficiency gain shows up.
Why the bill is what it is
A bill is a rate multiplied by a quantity, and in California the price per kilowatt hour is doing most of the work. Comparing your own bill to this figure only tells you something once you know which of the two you could actually change — the rate is largely fixed, the quantity is not.
Heating and cooling are usually the largest movable part. Whether that means a heat pump, a more efficient air conditioner, or neither depends on California's prices rather than on general advice.
Figures are twelve-month averages across 14,141,111 residential accounts in California, from the US Energy Information Administration. They describe the state, not your house — square footage, insulation and what you keep the thermostat at move an individual bill a long way. See the California rate page for the underlying prices.