What Is the Average PG&E Bill for a One-Bedroom Apartment?

PG&E does not publish an average bill by apartment size, so here is the math instead. A one-bedroom that uses 250 to 450 kWh a month would pay roughly $105 to $191 for electricity on PG&E's tiered plan at March 1, 2026 prices, before taxes. Where you fall depends mostly on your baseline territory and the season.

That range is our arithmetic from PG&E's own rate and baseline tables, with the usage range taken from federal survey data on apartments. It is not a PG&E estimate, and it leaves out gas. For the bigger picture on why California bills run high, start with our guide to high California electric bills.

How much electricity a one-bedroom uses

There is no official kWh figure for a one-bedroom. The closest data is the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Residential Energy Consumption Survey, which reports usage by type and size of home for the West census region, which covers California and 12 other states. In the 2020 survey, apartments in buildings with five or more units used 5,086 kWh a year, about 424 kWh a month, and apartments in two-to-four unit buildings used 5,644 kWh, about 470 a month. Homes under 1,000 square feet averaged 5,362 kWh, about 447 a month, and one-person households 5,635 kWh.

So 250 to 450 kWh a month covers most one-bedrooms we could model from public data. A unit with electric heat, a large TV setup or a home office running all day will sit at the top or above it. Your bill shows your own kWh and billing days; our kWh-per-day guide shows how to turn them into a daily number.

What that usage costs on PG&E in 2026

On PG&E's tiered plan, E-1, the first block of each bill, your baseline allowance, costs 32.561 cents per kWh and everything above it costs 40.702 cents. The allowance depends on your baseline territory, a letter printed on your bill, and it is much smaller in some territories than others. The table prices a 30-day summer bill in two territories at the ends of that range, including the standard Base Services Charge.

Territory T's summer allowance is 195 kWh on a 30-day bill, so a 450 kWh month puts 255 kWh in Tier 2. Territory R's is 531 kWh, so the same month never leaves Tier 1. That is why two identical apartments in different parts of PG&E's territory can get bills about $20 apart. Winter allowances differ again; the full table is in our PG&E tier rates guide.

The fixed charge weighs more on a small bill

Since March 1, 2026, most PG&E customers pay a Base Services Charge of $0.79343 a day, about $24 a month, while per-kWh prices were lowered at the same time. In the table above, it is about 22% of a 250 kWh bill but only 12% to 14% of a 450 kWh bill. PG&E itself says the lower kWh prices may or may not lead to a lower total bill; for a low-use apartment, the fixed charge is the bigger factor.

Income-qualified households pay less. CARE customers are assigned the lowest charge, $0.19713 a day, and get a 35% discount on their usage charges; FERA customers pay $0.39688 a day and get 18% off. The CPUC's 2026 income limit for CARE is $43,280 for one or two people. Our guide to PG&E's income-qualified bill discounts has the full table and how to apply.

Tiered or time-of-use for an apartment?

PG&E's E-TOU-C plan charges more from 4 to 9 p.m. every day and gives an 8.140-cent credit on usage within baseline, so a low-use apartment near its allowance can do well on it if the evening load is small. E-TOU-D has a shorter weekday peak but no baseline credit. The PG&E time-of-use plan guide compares them. Price each plan against your own year of usage before switching.

Three things that change an apartment bill

• Gas. If the unit has a gas stove, furnace or water heater, the PG&E bill carries a gas section too, priced separately in therms.
• Community choice. Where one of the 12 community choice aggregators in PG&E's territory buys the power, PG&E still delivers it and sends one combined bill, and the generation line is not PG&E's price. See what the third-party electric line means.
• Master meter. A building served through one PG&E master meter is on a master-metered schedule such as EM, so the E-1 math on this page does not apply to your share directly.

If the bill is higher than this math

Compare your kWh per day with the same month last year, then check the rate plan and credits. The step-by-step checklist is in why a PG&E bill runs high, and the statewide average utility bill shows where California households land overall. For a larger apartment in SDG&E territory, see the same estimate for an SDG&E two-bedroom. Renters who cannot put panels on the roof can read whether community solar is worth it.