What actually changed on your Edison bill in 2026

The short version

Three separate things happened, and people keep mashing them into one. One: in November 2025 Edison moved part of your bill off the per-kilowatt-hour rate and into a flat monthly charge called the Base Services Charge. Two: in September 2025 the CPUC approved Edison’s rate case, which raises the total revenue Edison collects every year through 2028. Three: the California Climate Credit moved to the summer months for 2026.

The part that surprises people: your per-kilowatt-hour price went down, not up. Edison says rates are down an average of 4.3% so far in 2026 compared with last December. What went up is the part of the bill you pay before you use a single kilowatt-hour.

The Base Services Charge, plainly

Effective November 2025, Edison replaced the old Basic Charge with the Base Services Charge. It is a flat monthly amount for being connected to the grid, and it does not change with how much electricity you use.

• Most residential customers$24.15 per month, billed as roughly $0.80 a day
• FERA, and qualifying deed-restricted affordable housing$12.08 per month
• CARE-enrolled customers$6.00 per month, roughly $0.20 a day

In exchange, Edison states the cost you pay for each kilowatt-hour decreased by approximately 10%. This was required by Assembly Bill 205, passed in 2022. It is a restructuring, not a surcharge on top of the old bill.

Edison also confirms the California Climate Credit is not affected by the Base Services Charge.

What the CPUC actually approved

On September 18, 2025 the CPUC issued its decision in Edison’s 2025 General Rate Case, proceeding A.23-05-010. Edison asked for a 2025 revenue requirement of $10.483 billion. The CPUC approved $9.664 billion — $819 million less than requested, but still an increase of $1.082 billion, or 12.61%, over the $8.582 billion authorized for 2024.

The decision also sets the years after that:

• 2025$9.664 billion approved, against $10.483 billion requested
• 2026$10.208 billion approved, against $11.151 billion requested
• 2027$10.730 billion approved, against $11.900 billion requested
• 2028$11.177 billion approved, against $12.632 billion requested

Across 2025 through 2028 that is $41.78 billion approved against $46.17 billion requested — 9.5% less than Edison asked for. The money funds wildfire grid hardening, undergrounding, covered conductor, and aging equipment replacement.

What the CPUC estimated it would do to a bill

The CPUC published its own bill-impact estimate, assuming a residential household using 500 kWh a month:

Read this carefully. These are the CPUC’s estimates at the time of the decision, at 500 kWh a month. Your house is not the average house. The figure that matters is your own bill, and it is on page one of your statement.

One more wrinkle the flyers never mention: because the decision was voted after January 1, 2025, Edison is recovering the 2025 shortfall from customers over a 24-month period that began as early as October 1, 2025. That catch-up is temporary and it is already running.

The Climate Credit moved

For 2026, residential customers receive two $36 California Climate Credits — one in August and one in September, $72 for the year. Historically this landed in April and October. It was shifted deliberately to the highest-billed summer months, when it does the most good. If you were waiting for an October credit this year, it already came.

When your electricity costs the most

Edison’s residential time-of-use plans concentrate the highest prices in the late afternoon and evening. On the 4–9 p.m. plans, peak runs from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.; on the 5–8 p.m. plan it runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. That window starts right as rooftop solar production falls off and right as air conditioning load peaks — which is the whole reason battery storage matters more here than it does in milder parts of the state.

The part solar cannot fix

This is the honest bit, and it is the reason we wrote the page rather than a flyer.

Solar offsets energy. The Base Services Charge is not energy — it is a fixed monthly charge for the connection. A solar system, however well designed, does not remove it. If you are on the standard residential rate, $24.15 a month stays on your bill after solar, and anyone who tells you your Edison bill goes to zero is either confused or selling you something.

What solar and a battery can do is take out most of the variable part — the kilowatt-hours, and especially the expensive 4-to-9 ones. That is a real reduction and for most houses in Fontana, Riverside and the High Desert it is a large one. It is just not the whole bill, and the honest number is the one worth planning around.

The other half of the picture is direction. Per-kilowatt-hour prices came down this year. The authorized revenue requirement keeps climbing through 2028. Those two facts are not in conflict — the split between fixed and variable is moving — but they do mean a household deciding on solar should look at the trend the CPUC has already approved, not at this month’s number alone.

What the flyers get wrong

• “SB-100 mandates a homeowner solar program.” It does not. SB-100 is California’s 100% clean electricity standard for utilities. It creates no homeowner program, no eligibility, and no deadline.
• “Edison has a mandate to expedite adoption for eligible residents.” There is no such mandate and no such eligibility list.
• “Rates increase 13% beginning July 26, 2026.” Edison’s own 2026 statement is that rates are down an average of 4.3% compared with last December.
• “$56 Climate Credit.” For 2026 it is two $36 credits, in August and September.
• “Zero out-of-pocket, no cost to you.” A $0-down power purchase agreement is a real product and we sell one. You still pay for the power the system produces, every month, under a contract. Nothing about it is free.

If a notice arrives at your door looking like it came from Edison, check the bottom for a phone number that is not Edison’s. Edison does not send salespeople to qualify you for a mandate.

Sources

Every figure above comes from one of these. They are all public.

• CPUC Decision Fact Sheet — Southern California Edison’s 2025 General Rate Case (A.23-05-010), Sept. 18, 2025
• Southern California Edison — Understanding the Base Services Charge
• Edison International Newsroom — SCE Brings Customers 2026 Bill Relief with California Climate Credit, Lower Rates
• CPUC — California Climate Credit

Published September 12, 2026. We update this page when the underlying filings change rather than leaving stale numbers up. Divine Gifts Solar is a solar broker, not a utility and not a tax advisor — for your own rate plan and bill, Edison is the authority, and for tax questions, consult a tax professional.