San Mateo Electric Bills and Rates: PG&E, WestLight Energy and Solar
A San Mateo home's electric bill comes from two companies on one PG&E statement. WestLight Energy, the county's community choice provider (formerly Peninsula Clean Energy), supplies the generation for most homes; PG&E delivers it and, since March 2026, adds a Base Services Charge of about $24 a month (about $12 on FERA, $6 on CARE). PG&E's average residential rate was 33.7 cents per kWh in June 2026.
Who sends a San Mateo electric bill
Two providers share a San Mateo account. PG&E owns the wires and the meter, delivers the power and sends the statement. WestLight Energy, which announced that Peninsula Clean Energy is now WestLight Energy and that its service and rates stayed the same, buys the power for the account; it serves San Mateo County and Los Banos, and says 97% of its neighbors in those areas get their electricity from it. The California Energy Commission's service-territory map places San Mateo inside both PG&E's delivery area and WestLight's community choice area.
On the bill that means two sets of charges: WestLight's generation charges and PG&E's delivery charges, plus PG&E's fixed monthly line. When your total changes, check which half moved before deciding what to do about it.
What PG&E charges San Mateo homes in 2026
The CPUC's Public Advocates Office put PG&E's residential average rate at $0.337 per kWh in its Q2 2026 report, unchanged since March 2026. Over longer periods it is up 8% in three years, 39% in five and 69% since January 2016. The same report names the main statewide drivers as wildfire mitigation and wildfire liability costs, transmission and distribution investment, and rooftop solar incentives under net energy metering.
Since March 2026 PG&E has split part of its costs into a Base Services Charge of around $24 a month for most customers, around $12 on FERA and around $6 on CARE, and lowered its per-kWh prices to match. PG&E stresses that this is a restructuring, not a new fee, and that lower per-kWh prices may or may not lower a given customer's total bill.
For a sense of scale, the Public Advocates Office estimated PG&E's average June 2026 monthly bill for a customer not on CARE at $125 in its sample cool climate zone and $168 in its hot one; CARE customers in the same zones averaged $69 and $124. Those are regional estimates, not a San Mateo average: your own twelve bills are the number that matters.
Discounts: CARE and FERA
The CPUC's CARE program gives a 30–35% discount on the electric bill to households at or under 200% of the federal poverty guidelines; FERA gives 18% to households up to 250%. For June 1, 2026 through May 31, 2027, a household of four qualifies for CARE at $66,000 and for FERA at $82,500. The Public Advocates Office notes that, with cost exemptions and the lower Base Services Charge, CARE customers now see total discounts of about 40%.
How solar changes what a San Mateo household still pays
Solar reduces the kWh you buy, not the fixed monthly line: the Base Services Charge stays on the bill whatever your panels produce. What your exported power earns depends on your plan and your provider. For customers on net energy metering, WestLight values net production at the otherwise applicable rate plus a $0.01 per kWh production premium, reviews accounts after the April billing cycle, sends a check to customers with a credit balance over $500, and caps annual cash-outs at $10,000.
So the useful comparison is your last twelve months of both halves of the bill against what a proposal says will remain. For the installer side of that decision, including San Mateo's SolarAPP+ requirements for contractors, see the San Mateo solar companies page linked above.
If the bill itself is the problem, start with why California electric bills run high and the PG&E high-bill breakdown.
San Mateo electricity questions
Who is the electricity provider in San Mateo?
Two companies: PG&E delivers the power and sends the bill, and WestLight Energy (formerly Peninsula Clean Energy) supplies the generation for most San Mateo homes. Your PG&E statement shows both.
What is the average electric bill in San Mateo?
No source publishes a San Mateo-only average. The CPUC Public Advocates Office estimated PG&E's average June 2026 bill for non-CARE customers at $125 a month in its sample cool climate zone and $168 in its hot zone. PG&E's residential average rate was 33.7 cents per kWh, and most customers also pay a Base Services Charge of about $24 a month.
Why are PG&E bills so high?
The Public Advocates Office lists wildfire mitigation and liability costs, transmission and distribution investment, and rooftop solar incentives as the main statewide drivers. PG&E's residential average rate rose 69% between January 2016 and June 2026.
Sources
- CPUC Public Advocates Office, Q2 2026 Electric Rates Report (checked 2026-09-23)
- PG&E: Base Services Charge (checked 2026-09-23)
- CPUC: CARE/FERA program (checked 2026-09-23)
- WestLight Energy (formerly Peninsula Clean Energy): home page and service area (checked 2026-09-23)
- WestLight Energy: net energy metering (checked 2026-09-23)
- California Energy Commission: Electric Load Serving Entities (IOU & POU and CCA layers) (checked 2026-09-23)
Check a Solar Quote Against Your San Mateo Bill
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PG&E average residential rate: 33.7¢/kWh as of June 2026 (CPUC Public Advocates Office). Your own rate plan may differ.
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The contract totals come only from the numbers you entered. A lease or PPA payment does not replace your whole bill: you still pay the utility for power the system does not cover, plus the $24.15 monthly fixed charge most PG&E, SCE and SDG&E customers pay under CPUC Decision 24-05-028 (about $6 on CARE and $12 on FERA). Ask the provider for its production estimate and add those remaining charges before comparing the quote with your current bill.
The usage figure is a rough estimate from an average rate; the kWh on your own bill is more accurate.
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