PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) commercial electricity rates in California

• Average commercial price, 202538.42¢per kWh, customers on bundled service
• vs California average+47%state commercial average 26.16¢
• Commercial customers581,9482nd largest of 29 in California
• Average use3,059 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$1,175a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+106%from 18.66¢ per kWh
• Outages208 mina year per customer · US average 124

PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) is an investor-owned utility serving 50 counties in California. Among the 29 California utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the 2nd largest, with about 33% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as Pacific Gas & Electric Co..

PG&E commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 PG&E billed its commercial customers on bundled service an average of 18.66¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 38.42¢, so it rose 106% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in California rose 66% over the same period. The highest year was 2024, at 39.46¢. Between 2024 and 2025 it fell 2.6%.

Average use and average bill are the utility’s commercial sales and revenue divided by its commercial customers and by twelve. The bill is an all-in figure: energy, delivery, demand and fixed charges together. A few very large customers pull both averages up, so most businesses use and pay less than the average.

PG&E customers who buy their energy from a supplier

In 2025, 74% of the commercial kWh PG&E delivered went to customers buying their energy from a competitive supplier, and 66% of its commercial customers did so. The share by kWh is the larger because the businesses that shop tend to be the larger ones. PG&E bills those customers for delivery only, at an average of 20.93¢ per kWh, which is the part of a bill that no supplier can change.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at PG&E

In 2025 the average commercial price at PG&E was 2.4% above the residential figure and 18% above the industrial one. Larger customers take power at a higher voltage and use it more steadily, so at most utilities the average falls from residential to commercial to industrial. Which class an account falls in is the utility’s decision, and the line between commercial and industrial is drawn differently from one utility to the next.

The customers who buy their energy from a supplier are counted separately, and PG&E bills them for delivery alone:

How PG&E’s commercial rates are set

PG&E is investor-owned, so its rates are set in cases before the California Public Utilities Commission and published in a tariff, which is a public document. A commercial account is billed on a rate schedule, chosen by the size of the account and the voltage it takes power at, and a schedule usually combines a fixed monthly charge, a charge per kWh and, above a certain size, a demand charge on the highest rate of draw in the month. The schedule code is printed on the bill. What a business in California can and cannot choose is on the California page.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at PG&E

EIA counts 586,841 commercial meters at PG&E in 2025, and 578,000 of them (98%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 3,292 are automated-reading (AMR) meters, which send a reading to the utility for billing only, and 5,549 are standard meters. An advanced meter is what makes interval data possible, and interval data is what shows when a building’s peak demand happens.

At PG&E, 678,489 commercial customers were on a time-varying rate in 2025. A time-varying rate charges more in some hours than in others, so when a business uses power matters as well as how much. The kinds PG&E reports offering commercial customers are time-of-use pricing and critical peak pricing.

EIA records 24,404 commercial net-metered generating systems at PG&E in 2025, with 2,260 MW of capacity between them: about 42 for every 1,000 commercial customers. Net metering credits a customer for power its own system sends to the grid; the terms are in the utility’s tariff.

How reliable is PG&E’s electric service?

PG&E customers went without power for an average of 208 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 1.50 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 273 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where PG&E serves

EIA records PG&E serving customers in 50 California counties: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, and 32 more. A county can be shared between utilities, so this does not tell you who serves a given address. The utility that serves an address is the one named on its bill.

EIA lists the California ISO as its balancing authority. CAISO is one of the organised wholesale markets, which run the grid and the wholesale power market across their area.

Other utilities in California

The average each billed its commercial customers in 2025. The California page has the state’s own figures and every utility with 500 or more commercial customers.

• Southern California Edison (22.94¢)
• SDG&E (39.12¢)
• LADWP (25.00¢)
• SMUD (17.57¢)
• Modesto Irrigation District (18.23¢)
• Imperial Irrigation District (18.24¢)
• Anaheim Public Utilities (20.91¢)
• Glendale Water & Power (26.05¢)
• Riverside Public Utilities (20.05¢)

What these figures can and cannot tell you

• They are averages over every commercial customer. A utility whose commercial customers are mostly large averages fewer cents per kWh than one serving mostly small shops, so a lower figure can mean larger customers and not a lower rate.
• They are not a rate schedule. None of these figures is a charge printed in PG&E’s tariff, and nothing here works out a bill from one. The tariff index lists the utilities whose filed schedules are quoted on this site.
• They are annual and final. EIA publishes utility figures once a year. The California page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.
• Bundled and delivery-only are different customers. The two prices describe different parts of the bill and are never added together or averaged.

For one building, the cost estimator gives a range by building type, size and state, and price by utility sets every utility side by side. Commercial vs residential vs industrial compares the classes in every state.

Data: every year of these figures, for this utility and every other with a page, is in one CSV, free to use with credit to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and this site. To cite this page: PG&E commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about PG&E

What is the average commercial electricity rate at PG&E?

PG&E billed its commercial customers on bundled service in California an average of 38.42¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 47% above the California commercial average of 26.16¢. It is the utility’s commercial revenue divided by its commercial sales, so it describes the whole class and is not the rate on any one schedule.

How much is the average commercial electric bill at PG&E?

About $1,175 a month in 2025, on average use of about 3,059 kWh a month. That is PG&E’s commercial revenue divided by its 200,371 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have PG&E’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average PG&E billed commercial customers rose 106% between 2015 and 2025, from 18.66¢ to 38.42¢ per kWh. The California commercial average rose 66% over the same period.

How reliable is PG&E’s electric service?

PG&E customers averaged 208 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does PG&E use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 578,000 advanced (AMI) meters among PG&E’s 586,841 commercial meters in 2025, which is 98%. An advanced meter records use at least hourly, which is what makes interval data and time-varying rates possible.

Is this the rate my business will pay PG&E?

No. It is an average over every commercial customer, from a corner shop to a campus. What one business pays depends on its rate schedule, how much it uses and how hard it draws at its peak. The schedule code is printed on the bill, and the schedule itself is in PG&E’s tariff.