How SCE rates doubled
Southern California Edison's average residential electricity price has risen from 16.51 cents per kWh in 2015 to 32.96 cents in 2025, an increase of about 100 percent, or roughly 7.2 percent per year. The chart compares SCE (solid) against the state residential average (dashed). Hover any point for the exact figure.
What rising SCE rates could cost you
SCE rates have risen about 7.2% per year. Enter your bill to see what that pace of increase could compound to over time, and what you have likely already absorbed. This is an estimate, not a guarantee.
Estimate only. Projects your current bill forward at SCE's historical average rate increase (7.2% per year, from EIA data); it assumes your usage stays the same except for any add-ons you select. Actual rates depend on your usage, rate plan, and the utility's future filings, and are not guaranteed. This is general information, not financial advice.
Two things people get wrong about SCE solar
Current residential rates
SCE residential customers are on time-of-use (TOU) plans, where the price depends on the hour. The structure below is from the OpenEI Utility Rate Database (a public, republishable snapshot). SCE raised rates again in late 2025, so the live peak price is now higher than the snapshot, current weekday 4 to 9 pm peaks run well above 50 cents per kWh.
| Plan | Energy charge | Fixed / basic |
|---|---|---|
| TOU-D-4-9PM (standard default) | Off-peak about 28c, peak (4 to 9 pm) about 33c | about $0.94/mo basic charge |
| TOU-D-PRIME (new solar, battery, or EV homes) | Off-peak about 26c, peak (4 to 9 pm) about 61c | about $15.60/mo basic charge |
Rates are approximate, vary by season and baseline allocation, and change often. Confirm current pricing on SCE's rate pages before making decisions.
NEM 3.0: what SCE pays for your exports
SCE is an investor-owned utility regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), so it is under NEM 3.0, also called the Net Billing Tariff, which took effect April 15, 2023.
Under NEM 3.0, the solar power you export to the grid is credited at avoided-cost rates, which average only about 3 to 4 cents per kWh, rather than the much higher retail rate you pay to import. That is roughly a 75 percent cut to export value compared with the old NEM 2.0.
A California appeals court upheld NEM 3.0 in early 2026, so it remains in effect. New SCE solar customers are placed on the TOU-D-PRIME plan.
Right next door the rules are completely different: if your address is in the City of Los Angeles, you are served by LADWP, whose LADWP net metering program still credits exported solar at close to the full retail rate.
The case for solar on SCE, honestly
SCE has some of the highest electricity rates in the country and they have risen fast. That is the core of the solar case here: every kWh you generate and use yourself replaces a kWh priced around 33 cents and climbing.
What changed is the export side. NEM 3.0 pays so little for surplus power that the winning setup is sizing for self-consumption and pairing panels with a battery that shifts midday solar into the 4 to 9 pm peak. Whether that pencils out for your house depends on usage, roof, and storage costs, so get a site-specific quote.
SCE service area
SCE serves a large, non-contiguous territory across central and Southern California. It does not serve the City of Los Angeles (that is LADWP), San Diego (SDG&E), or a number of municipal pockets such as Riverside, Anaheim, Pasadena, Burbank, and Glendale.
SCE's footprint interleaves with LADWP and a dozen municipal utilities, so a simple ZIP-range list is not reliable. Major cities it serves include Long Beach, Irvine, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fontana, Thousand Oaks, Santa Barbara, Visalia, and the Palm Springs area.
To confirm whether a specific address is on SCE, check your utility bill or look up your ZIP code (a ZIP lookup tool is coming to this site).
Full data and sources
Per-utility prices are computed from EIA Form 861 (bundled residential revenue divided by sales), which reconciles to the EIA's published figures. The state average comes from EIA retail-sales data. These are public-domain U.S. government data.
| Year | SCE (c/kWh) | State avg (c/kWh) |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16.51 | 16.99 |
| 2016 | 15.84 | 17.39 |
| 2017 | 16.6 | 18.31 |
| 2018 | 16.3 | 18.84 |
| 2019 | 16.21 | 19.15 |
| 2020 | 18.22 | 20.45 |
| 2021 | 21.33 | 22.82 |
| 2022 | 24.62 | 25.84 |
| 2023 | 32.33 | 29.51 |
| 2024 | 32.43 | 31.97 |
| 2025 | 32.96 | 32.54 |
Sources: EIA Form 861 (per-utility sales, revenue, and price) · EIA Electric Sales, Revenue, and Average Price (Table 6) · OpenEI Utility Rate Database · SCE residential time-of-use plans
FAQ
How much have SCE electricity rates gone up?
SCE's average residential price rose from about 16.5 cents per kWh in 2015 to about 33 cents in 2025, an increase of roughly 100 percent, or about 7.2 percent per year, per EIA Form 861 data.
Is SCE on NEM 3.0?
Yes. SCE is a CPUC regulated investor owned utility, so systems interconnected on or after April 15, 2023 fall under NEM 3.0, the Net Billing Tariff, which credits exports at avoided cost rates averaging about 3 to 4 cents per kWh. A California appeals court upheld the tariff in early 2026.
Do I need a battery for solar to make sense on SCE?
Not strictly, but the economics lean that way. Because exports earn a few cents while the 4 to 9 pm peak costs far more, storing midday solar and using it in the evening captures value that exporting gives away.
Does SCE serve the City of Los Angeles?
No. The City of Los Angeles is served by LADWP, a municipal utility with its own rates and its own net metering program. SCE surrounds LADWP territory but does not overlap it.