California is returning $886 million to residential electric customers this year through a credit on August and September bills, the Governor’s office said on September 22. It describes the relief as averaging about $75 a household.

The credit reaches residential customers of the state’s three largest investor-owned electric utilities: Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric. No application is required. It is applied automatically and appears on the bill as the California Climate Credit.

The money does not come from a separate appropriation. The Governor’s office says it is returned through the Cap-and-Invest Program, administered by the California Air Resources Board, under which companies that emit large amounts of climate pollution buy allowances and that revenue is returned to residential customers.

The California Public Utilities Commission, which sets the schedule, lists the per-utility amounts for 2026. PG&E residential customers receive $36.18 in August and $36.18 in September. Southern California Edison customers receive $36 in each month. San Diego Gas and Electric customers receive $49.36 in each month.

Governor Gavin Newsom tied the timing to summer bills. "At a time when Donald Trump’s policies are making life more expensive for Americans at the grocery store, gas pump, and virtually everywhere else, California is making polluters pay and delivering that money back to millions of households when summer utility bills are at their highest," he said in the announcement, made during Climate Week NYC.

The practical check is the bill itself rather than the announcement. Look for the named line item on the August and September statements, confirm the amount against the utility, and remember that a billing cycle can carry the credit onto the following month’s statement.

A customer who expects the credit and does not find it should raise it with the utility first; the commission directs customers there when an expected bill arrives without the line item. Submetered residents who are eligible but do not receive a utility bill directly should receive the credit through their property owner or billing provider.

Sources & methodology

This report was written from the primary materials below. Links open at the original publisher.

Office of the Governor of California: $886 million in utility bill relief California Public Utilities Commission: California Climate Credit

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