Palm Desert's Electricity Providers: SCE or IID, Rates and Bills
Palm Desert is split between utilities: the Energy Commission's load-serving map shows SCE on almost all of the city, with a small area served by the Imperial Irrigation District, so the bill is the place to check which one serves your address. SCE's average residential rate was 34.4¢ per kWh as of June 1, 2026 (CPUC Public Advocates Office), and most of its customers also pay a fixed $24.15 a month.
Who supplies electricity in Palm Desert
The Energy Commission's load-serving map shows SCE on almost all of the city, with a small area served by the Imperial Irrigation District. Read the utility name and rate schedule on your Palm Desert bill before you compare plans or solar offers.
What electricity costs in Palm Desert
SCE's average residential rate was 34.4¢ per kWh as of June 1, 2026 (CPUC Public Advocates Office), plus a fixed $24.15 a month ($12.08 on FERA, $6.00 on CARE) under CPUC Decision 24-05-028. Its residential plans include time-of-use plans TOU-D-4-9PM and TOU-D-5-8PM, TOU-D-PRIME for homes with an electric vehicle, a battery or an electric heat pump, and a tiered plan. The California utility rate tracker compares the large utilities.
SCE's Index of Communities puts Palm Desert in baseline region 15. Region 15 (hot): 45 kWh a day June to September, 9.7 kWh a day October to May. That baseline is billed at 30¢ per kWh on the tiered plan and use above it at 40¢, as SCE posted them on Sept. 24, 2026.
Discounts and solar billing
On a PG&E, SCE or SDG&E bill, CARE takes 30–35% off and FERA 18% off for eligible households, according to the CPUC, and new solar customers go on its Net Billing Tariff, whose export credit the CPUC says is usually below the retail rate. SCE's assistance page has the application. Installers active here are on the Palm Desert solar companies page.
Reading a Palm Desert solar bill
Palm Desert’s General Plan identifies SCE across most of the city and IID in a limited portion. Read the electric bill before using either utility’s solar assumptions. The city name cannot settle the tariff, export treatment or interconnection process at your meter.
If the bill itself is the problem, start with why California electric bills run high.
Palm Desert electricity questions
Who provides electricity in Palm Desert?
The Energy Commission's load-serving map shows SCE on almost all of the city, with a small area served by the Imperial Irrigation District. Your bill names the utility that serves your address.
What is SCE's baseline allowance in Palm Desert?
SCE's Index of Communities puts Palm Desert in baseline region 15. The summer allowance is 45 kWh a day in region 15; that much is billed at the lower tier on SCE's tiered plan.
Sources
- California Energy Commission: Electric Load Serving Entities (IOU & POU) map layer, intersected with the Census place boundary (checked 2026-09-23)
- California Energy Commission: Electric Load Serving Entities (Other, including CCAs) map layer, queried at the city's Census point (checked 2026-09-24)
- CPUC Public Advocates Office, Q2 2026 Electric Rates Report (residential average rates) (checked 2026-09-24)
- CPUC Decision 24-05-028 (income-graduated fixed charge: $24.15, $12.08, $6.00) (checked 2026-09-24)
- CPUC: CARE/FERA Program (discounts; income limits June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027) (checked 2026-09-24)
- CPUC: Net Energy Metering and Net Billing (checked 2026-09-24)
- SCE: Time-of-Use residential rate plans (checked 2026-09-24)
- SCE tariff: Index of Communities, baseline regions (Cal. PUC Sheet 53902-E) (checked 2026-09-24)
- SCE: Tiered Rate Plan (daily baseline allocations by region; prices as posted) (checked 2026-09-24)
Compare two utility bills
Enter the billing days, total kWh and current electric charges from a current bill and a prior bill. Blank fields stay blank; this is arithmetic only and does not diagnose a rate plan or cause of a change.
Use the current-electric-charges line rather than the total account balance. Credits can make that charge negative.
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