Southern California Edison Rates in 2026: Solar, Batteries and TOU Plans

Southern California Edison customers searching for relief from high electric bills often hear three simplified answers: switch rates, add solar, or add a battery. In 2026, none of those decisions should be made from a headline alone. The useful question is how your household uses electricity by hour, which rate schedule applies, and how much energy a proposed system will consume, produce, store, or export.

SCE’s June 1, 2026 advisory listed a new average residential rate of 34.4 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with 34.5 cents immediately before the change. That average is useful context, but it is not the price every customer pays for every kilowatt-hour. Your actual bill depends on your rate plan, baseline allocation, season, time of use, income-qualified discounts, taxes and other charges.

What changed on SCE bills in 2026?

The most visible structural change is the Base Services Charge. SCE lists monthly charges of about $24 for most residential customers, $12 for FERA customers and qualifying deed-restricted affordable housing, and $6 for CARE customers. The charge is intended to recover part of the utility’s fixed costs separately from the per-kilowatt-hour price.

This does not mean conservation stopped mattering. Usage charges still make up a large part of most bills, especially for homes with air conditioning, pool pumps, electric water heating, EV charging, or other high loads. It does mean that a solar proposal should not promise to eliminate every utility charge.

Time-of-use plans: focus on the expensive hours

SCE currently offers residential time-of-use options with higher prices during evening peaks. Its TOU-D-4-9PM plan concentrates the highest summer weekday prices from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.; TOU-D-5-8PM uses a shorter 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. peak window. Both currently list a base services charge of $0.79 per day and a baseline credit for eligible usage.

A rate switch can help when you can move flexible loads. Common examples include:

• charging an EV overnight instead of during the evening peak;
• pre-cooling a home before the peak period, when safe and comfortable;
• running dishwashers, laundry, pool pumps, or water heating outside peak hours;
• using a battery during peak hours instead of buying the most expensive grid energy.

Before switching, use SCE’s own rate comparison tool with at least several months of usage. A generic savings estimate cannot see your weather, household schedule, or interval data.

How solar is billed for new SCE customers

New SCE solar customers generally enter the Solar Billing Plan, California’s Net Billing Tariff. Electricity used directly in the home can offset electricity you otherwise would have purchased. Excess solar exported to the grid receives an hourly Energy Export Credit based on the value of that energy to the grid, and that credit is usually lower than the retail rate paid for electricity.

SCE also describes an Energy Export Bonus Credit for eligible residential customers who enroll before 2028. The amount and eligibility depend on the enrollment year and customer category, so it should be modeled as a tariff feature, not a permanent guarantee.

When a battery can improve the calculation

A battery can increase solar self-consumption by storing midday production for evening use. It may also provide backup power if the system includes the required transfer equipment and is designed to operate during an outage. But a battery is not automatically economical.

Compare these numbers in writing:

• usable battery capacity in kilowatt-hours;
• continuous and surge output for the circuits you want to support;
• round-trip efficiency and expected degradation;
• warranty throughput, term and exclusions;
• the proposed operating schedule under your specific SCE rate;
• the added installed price, financing cost and replacement assumptions.

Use our Battery Backup Planner to estimate essential loads before comparing brands.

A better way to evaluate an SCE solar proposal

1. Download 12 months of bills and, if possible, interval usage data.
2. Confirm the exact rate schedule used in the salesperson’s model.
3. Separate direct solar use from exports to the grid.
4. Ask for monthly production, consumption, export and battery-dispatch assumptions.
5. Compare the cash price before comparing monthly financing payments.
6. Check whether the quote includes roofing, panel work, permits, interconnection and backup hardware.
7. Run a lower-production and higher-usage scenario before accepting the promised savings.

For a deeper checklist, see Solar Costs in 2026 and Buying vs. Leasing vs. a Solar PPA.

Official sources

• SCE Rates Advisory
• SCE residential time-of-use plans
• SCE Base Services Charge
• SCE Solar Billing Plan
• CPUC Net Energy Metering and Net Billing

Featured photo: Arthur Lambillotte via Unsplash.