SDG&E Rate Increases in 2026: What Changed, the History Since 2024 and Why San Diego Pays the Most

SDG&E's biggest recent increase took effect January 1, 2026: its residential average rate rose about 11.4%, to 45.7 cents per kWh, mostly to recover 2025 generation costs that came in above forecast. A 2.0% cut on June 1 left it at 45.5 cents, still the highest of California's three big utilities. A smaller change followed August 1.

The averages come from the CPUC Public Advocates Office's quarterly rate reports; the plan prices come from SDG&E's own total-rate tables, both checked September 23, 2026. They match the SDG&E row on our California utility rate tracker, which also has PG&E and SCE for comparison.

SDG&E rate chart, 2024 to 2026

Each bar is SDG&E's residential average rate as the Public Advocates Office reported it. The bars start at zero. The step up on January 1, 2026 is the largest single move in the period.

Every SDG&E rate change since 2024

The January 2026 increase is the one most San Diego customers noticed. SDG&E's 2025 market revenues from its power portfolio came in lower than forecast, leaving a $621.0 million balance to collect starting January 1, on top of a $184.6 million higher 2026 portfolio budget. Because the CPUC reviews these balances in its annual fuel and power proceedings rather than in the four-year rate case, they can arrive quickly and in one step.

SDG&E TOU-DR1 prices over time

SDG&E calls TOU-DR1 its standard residential schedule and says a typical household is most likely on it. Its on-peak hours are 4 to 9 p.m. The table tracks the summer prices, before the credit SDG&E gives on usage up to 130% of baseline.

Two things stand out. The October 1, 2025 drop in every per-kWh price was the Base Services Charge taking effect: SDG&E moved part of its costs into a flat daily charge, so the per-kWh prices fell while the class average barely moved. And in the summer prices, the January 2026 increase landed hardest on the cheapest hours: super off-peak rose about 8.2 cents and off-peak about 4.3 cents, against 2.4 cents on-peak.

Why San Diego pays the most

The Public Advocates Office puts SDG&E's residential average up 5% over three years, 42% over five years and 97% over ten years to June 2026. It names wildfire costs, transmission and distribution investment and rooftop solar incentives as the main statewide drivers. SDG&E's wildfire-related revenue requirement was $675.7 million in January 2026, 14% of its total, up from 9% in January 2023.

Rate design matters too. SDG&E's 4-to-9 p.m. on-peak price runs every day, including weekends, and was more than 22 cents above its off-peak price in summer 2026. See how that compares in PG&E vs. SCE vs. SDG&E rates, and how SCE's rates moved over the same years in the SCE rate history.

What an SDG&E customer can do

Check the plan. SDG&E's super off-peak hours are the cheapest on TOU-DR1 and on EV-TOU-5, the plan for EV charging and for solar customers on the net billing tariff. Our SDG&E peak hours and TOU plan guide compares the options.

Check the discounts. CARE cuts the bill 30% to 35% and FERA 18% for households under the CPUC's income limits, and both lower the Base Services Charge. If the bill still looks wrong, work through why an SDG&E bill runs high.

Price solar against these rates. The CPUC says net billing export credits are usually lower than retail prices, and SDG&E customers do not get the export bonus that PG&E and SCE customers get, because SDG&E's higher rates already make solar save more. That makes the self-use share, and a battery, the center of an SDG&E proposal; see whether solar still pays under NEM 3.0 and the San Diego County solar and bill guide.