Palo Alto's Electricity Provider Is City of Palo Alto Utilities: Rates and Bills
Palo Alto's electricity comes from the City itself: City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) supplies and delivers power to almost all of the city, so PG&E and the community choice providers around it do not bill Palo Alto homes. CPAU's residential Schedule E-1, effective July 1, 2026, charges a $5.38 monthly customer charge plus 21.494 cents per kWh for the first 15 kWh a day and 23.975 cents above that.
Who provides electricity in Palo Alto
CPAU is the City's own utility, and its rate schedules are issued by the City Council rather than set by the CPUC. On the California Energy Commission's utility map, CPAU's territory covers about 99% of Palo Alto's land, with slivers at the edges in PG&E territory; the name on your bill settles it. No community choice provider sits on top, so one utility handles generation, delivery and billing.
Because CPAU is not one of the investor-owned utilities, the CPUC programs built for PG&E, SCE and SDG&E customers, such as CARE, FERA, the Base Services Charge and the Net Billing Tariff, are not how Palo Alto bills work. CPAU has its own bill assistance and its own solar rules, both below.
What CPAU charges a home
Schedule E-1 applies to separately metered single-family homes. Each kWh price has three parts. Tier 1 is 10.839 cents for the commodity, 10.024 cents for distribution and 0.631 cents for public benefits, 21.494 cents in all; Tier 2 is 13.973, 9.371 and 0.631 cents, 23.975 cents in all. Tier 1 covers 15 kWh a day, prorated by the days between meter readings, which is 450 kWh in a 30-day bill.
At those prices a 30-day month using 450 kWh comes to about $102 before any taxes or surcharges ($5.38 plus 450 × $0.21494, our arithmetic), and each kWh above Tier 1 adds about 24 cents. A voluntary time-of-use schedule, E-1-TOU, is open to homes with an advanced meter, but not to net-metered solar customers.
For scale, the CPUC Public Advocates Office put PG&E's residential average rate at 33.7 cents per kWh in June 2026. That is a class-wide average rather than a tier price, but it shows why a Palo Alto quote should never be built on PG&E's rates.
Help with the bill, and solar
CPAU's Rate Assistance Program takes 35% off electricity charges, and 25% off gas, for households with a physician-certified medical need or income up to 80% of the area median: as of July 1, 2026, $113,700 a year for one person and $162,400 for a household of four.
New solar customers are on CPAU's NEM 2 program, which began when the original program reached its 10.8 MW cap at the end of 2017. NEM 2 customers are paid for exported electricity under Schedule E-EEC-1: $0.0990 per kWh from July 1, 2026, less than half the E-1 tier prices, so power used at home as it is produced is worth more than power sent to the grid.
If the bill itself is the problem, start with why California electric bills run high.
Palo Alto electricity questions
Who is the electricity provider in Palo Alto, California?
City of Palo Alto Utilities, the City's own utility, for almost all of Palo Alto; PG&E appears only in slivers along the city's edges on the Energy Commission's map. CPAU supplies, delivers and bills for the power.
What are the electricity rates in Palo Alto?
Schedule E-1, effective July 1, 2026: a $5.38 monthly customer charge, 21.494 cents per kWh for the first 15 kWh a day and 23.975 cents per kWh above that.
What is the average electric bill in Palo Alto?
CPAU does not publish one. At E-1 prices, a 30-day month using 450 kWh comes to about $102 before taxes and surcharges; your own bills show your real usage.
Do CARE and FERA apply in Palo Alto?
No. They are CPUC programs for customers of the investor-owned utilities. CPAU runs its own Rate Assistance Program, which takes 35% off electricity charges for households under its income limits or with a certified medical need.
What does CPAU pay for solar exports?
$0.0990 per kWh under Schedule E-EEC-1, effective July 1, 2026, for customers on its NEM 2 program.
Sources
- City of Palo Alto Utilities: Utility Rate Schedule E-1, residential (effective July 1, 2026) (checked 2026-09-23)
- City of Palo Alto Utilities: Residential rates (E-1, E-1-TOU, solar schedules) (checked 2026-09-23)
- City of Palo Alto Utilities: Schedule E-EEC-1, Export Electricity Compensation (effective July 1, 2026) (checked 2026-09-23)
- City of Palo Alto Utilities: Net Energy Metering (NEM 1 cap, NEM 2) (checked 2026-09-23)
- City of Palo Alto Utilities: Rate Assistance Program (income limits as of July 1, 2026) (checked 2026-09-23)
- CPUC: CARE/FERA Program (checked 2026-09-23)
- CPUC Public Advocates Office, Q2 2026 Electric Rates Report (checked 2026-09-23)
- California Energy Commission: Electric Load Serving Entities (IOU & POU and CCA layers), queried 2026-09-23 (checked 2026-09-23)
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