Southern California Edison (SCE) customers will face a wave of electricity price hikes starting from October 1st. In the coming years, electricity bills may continue to rise.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved SCE’s application for a 10% electricity price increase plan last Thursday, September 18th. Starting from October 1st, SCE will implement the price hike scheme. It is estimated that the average annual electricity bill for households will increase by about $200, or $17 per month.
According to CPUC, the funds raised from the price hike will be used for purposes such as fire safety, maintenance of aging infrastructure, and future grid needs.
To combat inflation, this price adjustment is just part of a series of rate increase plans proposed by SCE. It is expected that until 2028, customers will see more changes in electricity price hikes.
In addition to the aforementioned price hike plan, California politicians have passed a bill that will affect residential customers across the state. Starting from November, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), SCE, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will charge most of their customers a monthly $24 Base Services Charge. The charging is based on Assembly Bill 205 passed by the Democratic-led state legislature.
Based on the background of “green energy” and “environmental protection,” the bill requires power companies to adjust rate structures to support the transition to clean energy and ensure fair electricity prices, reducing monthly bills for low-income families. However, many ordinary households later discovered that the bill not only failed to lower their monthly bills but also made them more expensive.
Taking SCE’s current electricity rate benchmark as of June 1st as an example: if a low electricity usage customer consumes 300 kilowatt-hours per month, the pre-adjustment monthly bill is $89 ($53 for Energy Delivery Charge and $36 for Generation Charge), but after the adjustment, it will increase to $101 ($41 for Energy Delivery Charge, $36 for Generation Charge, and $24 for the base service fee).
However, for medium and high electricity usage customers, the adjusted electricity bill may remain the same or even decrease slightly. ◇