The SCE Bill Hike in Altadena: What Changed, What It Costs and Where to Get Help

Altadena's electric bills went up mainly on October 1, 2025, when the CPUC's decision in Southern California Edison's 2025 general rate case reached customers' rates. SCE's residential average rate rose about 13.1% that day, to 35.3 cents per kWh, and the CPUC estimated the decision alone added $15.52 a month to a typical 500 kWh bill, or $9.79 for a CARE household. Changes since then left the average at 34.4 cents on June 1, 2026.

Altadena is unincorporated Los Angeles County, so there is no city utility: SCE delivers the power and, by default, Clean Power Alliance supplies it. This page covers what changed on the bill, whether the increase is tied to the Eaton Fire, what a typical Altadena bill looks like now, and the help SCE and Clean Power Alliance offer residents, including those rebuilding.

Who provides electricity in Altadena

Altadena is not a city, so it has no municipal utility. On the California Energy Commission's utility map, about 99.5% of the Altadena community is SCE territory; a sliver at its edge falls in Pasadena Water and Power's area. Clean Power Alliance, which has served unincorporated Los Angeles County since 2018, covers about 99% of Altadena on the same map.

SCE delivers the power, maintains the lines and sends the bill. Clean Power Alliance buys the electricity. For unincorporated Los Angeles County its default option is 100% Green Power, which is 100% renewable; the others are Lean Power, 40% clean, and Clean Power, 50% clean, and you can switch among them at any time.

What the 2025 rate case changed

Every four years the CPUC sets how much SCE may collect from customers to run and rebuild its system. In Decision 25-09-030, issued September 18, 2025, it adopted a 2025 revenue requirement of $9.664 billion: $819 million less than the $10.483 billion SCE asked for, but $1.082 billion, or 12.61%, more than the $8.582 billion authorized for 2024. It approved $41.78 billion in total for 2025 through 2028, with further base-revenue increases of $544 million in 2026, $522 million in 2027 and $447 million in 2028.

Because the decision came nine months into the year it covered, SCE also began recovering what it would have collected from January through September 2025: $902 million, spread over 24 months. The CPUC Public Advocates Office counted that and the new base revenue together as a $1.69 billion increase over SCE's June 1, 2025 revenue requirement. The CPUC's bill estimate below covers the decision's new revenue; the 13.1% is the change in the average rate on October 1, when the catch-up amount began as well.

Is the increase paying for the Eaton Fire?

The CPUC's summary of the decision describes what the money pays for: wildfire mitigation, including $941 million for 177 miles of targeted undergrounding, $1.272 billion for 1,653 miles of covered conductor and $553.5 million for vegetation management, plus upgrades to aging equipment and to the grid for growing demand. It does not mention the Eaton Fire, which began in January 2025, months after the case's evidentiary hearings ended in May 2024.

Wildfire costs of every kind are still a growing share of SCE's bills. The Public Advocates Office counts $2.69 billion of SCE's January 2026 revenue requirement, about 14%, as wildfire-related, a figure that includes wildfire insurance and the Wildfire Fund Charge; in January 2023 it was $1.45 billion, or 9%.

Separately from rates, SCE runs a voluntary Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program for people and businesses affected by the Eaton Fire. Claims can be filed online or by calling 888-912-8528 until November 30, 2026, and accepting an offer means signing a settlement that includes a promise not to litigate further.

What an Altadena bill looks like now

Clean Power Alliance and SCE's joint rate comparison, using SCE rates as of June 1, 2026 and Clean Power Alliance rates as of July 1, 2026, prices a typical 522 kWh month on SCE's TOU-D-4-9PM plan for each option:

Since November 2025 every bill also carries SCE's Base Services Charge: $24.15 a month for most customers, $12.08 on FERA and $6.00 on CARE. SCE says it cut the price of each kWh by about 10% in exchange, so a low-use home can pay more than before and a high-use home less.

How much of your usage gets the lower price depends on your baseline region. SCE's index of communities places Altadena in regions 9 and 16; the summer baseline is 16.9 kWh a day in region 9 and 14.7 in region 16, and on TOU-D-4-9PM that allowance earns a credit of 10 cents per kWh. For customers with SCE generation, that plan charges about 58 cents per kWh from 4 to 9 p.m. on summer weekdays and 34 cents at other hours. The SCE time-of-use guide lists every period, and why an Edison bill runs high walks through a bill line by line.

Help with the bill in Altadena

• CARE and FERA. CARE takes 30 to 35% off the electric bill and FERA 18% for households under the CPUC's income limits, and both lower the Base Services Charge. The joint comparison prices CARE households on every Clean Power Alliance option too.
• Medical Baseline. Households that rely on powered medical equipment can apply for SCE's Medical Baseline, which adds 16.5 kWh a day to the baseline allocation.
• In person. SCE's Altadena Rebuild & Community Hub, 2680 Fair Oaks Ave., is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and SCE also takes walk-ins at the Los Angeles County Permit One-Stop, 464 W. Woodbury Rd., Suite 210. SCE's disaster line is 1-800-250-7339.
• Rebuilding. SCE says solar customers who rebuild may be able to stay on their original NEM tariff with application fees waived, and it points rebuilding homeowners to its SWITCH and RISE Homes programs for all-electric, energy-efficient homes. New service is requested through SCE's project portal.
• Solar with a battery. Clean Power Alliance's Sun Storage Rebate pays $2,000 toward an eligible battery, and up to $3,500 with its add-ons for homes in Public Safety Power Shutoff areas and for Medical Baseline, CARE or FERA customers, first come, first served (CPA, checked September 24, 2026).

Solar at today's rates

New rooftop systems go on SCE's Solar Billing Plan and its TOU-D-PRIME rate, where exports earn credits that vary by the hour and are locked for nine years, with an extra credit of about 4 cents per kWh, about 9 cents for income-qualified customers, for those who enroll before 2028. If Clean Power Alliance supplies your power, it applies the generation side of those credits, trues up every April and pays surplus at a rate it sets 10% above SCE's.

SCE says that because its export credits are worth less than the power you buy, storing your own energy for the expensive hours is now worth more than exporting it. Solar credits cannot pay the Base Services Charge. For the details, see how SCE's Solar Billing Plan pays for exports and, for older systems, how to read an SCE annual settlement bill. The rate history behind this page is on SCE's rate increases since 2024.