How Much Does It Cost to Turn On Electricity in California? Fees, Deposits and the First Bill

Turning on electricity at a California home usually costs little or nothing up front. The CPUC stopped PG&E, SCE and SDG&E from requiring residential deposits in 2020, and PG&E's service rules list no start-up fee. LADWP charges a one-time $19 turn-on fee, and SMUD asks for a deposit only if your credit is poor. The real cost is the first bill.

If your bill jumped and you are not sure why, start with what to check on a high California bill.

That bill starts with a fixed daily charge from the day service begins, whatever you use. Below are the start fees, deposit rules and fixed charges for California's five largest utilities, each taken from the utility's tariff or fee page or the CPUC decision and checked on September 23, 2026.

Start fees and deposits by utility

Why PG&E, SCE and SDG&E do not take residential deposits

In Decision 20-06-003, issued in June 2020 in its rulemaking on disconnections, the CPUC prohibited the large investor-owned utilities, PG&E, SCE, SDG&E and Southern California Gas, from requiring an establishment of service deposit or a reestablishment deposit from residential customers. The commission found deposits can hurt a household's ability to keep up with its bills and saw no evidence that they keep customers current. The same decision precludes those utilities from charging reconnection fees.

PG&E wrote the rule into its tariff: Electric Rule 7 says PG&E is prohibited from requiring any residential customer to pay an establishment of credit deposit for new service. Business accounts are different; PG&E can ask a nonresidential customer for up to twice the estimated maximum or average monthly bill, and SCE lists business deposits of twice the average or highest monthly bill.

What you need to start service

PG&E's Electric Rule 3 lists what an application covers: your legal name and the other adults living at the home, the service address and the date you will be ready, whether the home had service before, how you will use it, where to send bills, whether you own or rent, and the rate plan you want where there is a choice. PG&E may accept a spoken request instead of a signed form. If your city buys power through a community choice aggregator, you still call PG&E; PG&E says it will work with the CCA to begin service.

Two things are worth doing at the same moment. If your household income qualifies, ask for CARE or FERA when you start, because both lower the fixed charge as well as the price per kWh; our guide to PG&E's CARE and FERA discounts lists the income limits. And ask which rate plan the account will start on, since the default may not be the cheapest for your hours.

What your first bill will include

The first bill covers the days from your start date to the next meter read, so it is often shorter or longer than a normal month. It includes the fixed charge for those days and the kWh you used at your plan's prices. At PG&E, a 30-day first bill on the standard tier carries $23.80 of Base Services Charge before any usage. SCE's charge works out to $24.15 a month for most customers. LADWP bills every two months, and says a new customer's first bill may cover more or fewer than 60 days; the $19 turn-on fee appears on that opening bill.

To estimate the usage part, multiply your expected kWh by your plan's price. The rate lookup by address gives the standard plan price for each large utility, and the average California utility bill shows what typical homes spend.

If the power was shut off: reconnection

For PG&E, SCE and SDG&E customers, Decision 20-06-003 precludes reconnection fees and reestablishment deposits, although PG&E's Electric Rule 11 still lets it require the amount due before restoring service that was shut off for nonpayment. SMUD's fee schedule lists $25 for a reconnection during business hours and $134 for a truck reconnect. If you are behind, the PG&E bill-help programs and payment plans are the place to start.

A new connection is a different cost

Everything above assumes the home already has a meter and a service line. Bringing power to a new house, an ADU with its own meter or a bare lot is priced separately. PG&E handles that under its line and service extension rules, Electric Rules 15 and 16, and the cost depends on the job. LADWP says installation charges are generally not involved when an existing service can carry a new load, but work in public property, transformer work or street resurfacing is charged case by case. Its standard temporary construction service costs $1,000 for an overhead drop of 200 amps or less, or $170 for an underground temporary service fed from an existing one.