SOUTHLAND – (INT) - California is struggling with an affordability crisis, and in recent weeks, the focus has turned to the state’s soaring electricity rates.

Policymakers are concerned that high costs might encourage residents to leave the state and pose financial burdens for those who remain.

California has long had high electricity rates. The IPLUMS annual American Community Survey found that since the late 1980s, the price has been at least 10% higher than in the nation as a whole. But rates have surged dramatically in recent years, from about a third higher than the national average in 2015 to over 80% higher last year.

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) theorized that possible explanations for these higher rates include the state’s ambitious climate change policies, subsidies for rooftop solar and low-income customers, recent wildfires, and pricing by investor-owned utilities.

But the PPIC noted Californians also use far less electricity. While per capita sales to residential users have steadily climbed in the US as a whole, California’s have not changed much since the late 1970s. They now sit at half the level of the US overall.

Some credit the state’s pioneering energy efficiency regulations and others the state’s demography and temperate climate. California’s utilities also point to lower consumption as one reason for higher rates.

Story Date: April 2, 2025