Commercial electricity in California

What California businesses pay for electricity

What utilities billed commercial customers in California

For each utility, EIA records how many commercial customers it had in 2025 and the average revenue per kWh it billed them. The 10 largest of 29 California utilities with 500 or more commercial customers are shown.

Together the 10 shown serve about 95% of California’s 1,775,143 commercial customers, and all 29 serve about 99%. All California commercial customers together averaged 26.16¢ per kWh in 2025.

Bundled is the price paid by commercial customers who buy their energy and delivery from the utility, so it is an all-in price. Delivery-only is what the utility billed customers who buy their energy from a competitive supplier, so it is the delivery charge alone and cannot be compared with a bundled price. Each figure averages every commercial customer of that utility and service type, from a corner shop to a campus, so a utility with larger customers averages a lower price per kWh. It is dated context, not a quote and not an offer, and the utility that serves an address is named on its bill.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, 2025 final data. Utilities across the country · every utility as a CSV.

What a California commercial account can actually do

California is not an ordinary shopping market. Access is limited, and whether a specific account qualifies has to be checked against the current program rules before any comparison is worth discussing. This is the single most misrepresented category of market in this industry: a site that treats a capped or threshold-based program as ordinary retail choice will generate a great many enquiries it cannot serve.

So the first question is eligibility, not price. That means establishing which program the account would be entering, whether it is open, whether there is a queue or an enrollment window, what the demand or size threshold is, and what exit terms apply if the account later wants to return to regulated service.

For accounts that do not qualify — which is most of them — the controllable cost is still real, and it sits in the tariff rather than in a contract:

• Rate schedule fit. Computed from your own usage against a publicly filed alternative tariff, so it is verifiable by you or your accountant.
• Demand charges and ratchet exposure. Frequently the largest controllable line on the bill, and unaffected by any supply arrangement.
• Billing accuracy. Meter multipliers, customer classification and misapplied riders.
• Efficiency and load management, including any CPUC-approved program the account already qualifies for.

Where California sits

Every US market on one view, coloured by what an account can actually do there. California is highlighted, and every other tile is a link.

Before we can answer anything specific

We verify from the account, not from the address alone:

• The utility territory actually serving the service address
• The account identifier and customer class
• Current supply arrangement, including any aggregation and its termination status
• Contract expiry date and whether the decision window is open
• 12 months of consumption and, where metered, peak demand