21.36¢
per kWh, 2025
[ City of Palo Alto / CA ]
City of Palo Alto electricity rates in California
CITY SETS RATES · DATA 2025
change in average rate, 2024→2025
+3.3%
vs 2024
25,672
residential customers
+30.5%
since 2020
What your bill becomes
Bill today
No change on file
Difference / month · / year
Estimated at City of Palo Alto's average effective residential rate (21.36¢/kWh, EIA, all charges included). Your tariff, fees and taxes differ.
Rate history 2015–2025
| Year | ¢/kWh | Change | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 12.02¢ | — | 25,299 |
| 2016 | 12.69¢ | +5.6% | 25,520 |
| 2017 | 14.28¢ | +12.5% | 25,579 |
| 2018 | 15.32¢ | +7.3% | 25,461 |
| 2019 | 15.96¢ | +4.2% | 25,811 |
| 2020 | 16.37¢ | +2.6% | 25,083 |
| 2021 | 16.23¢ | −0.9% | 25,882 |
| 2022 | 17.42¢ | +7.3% | 25,761 |
| 2023 | 20.21¢ | +16.0% | 26,220 |
| 2024 | 20.67¢ | +2.3% | 26,249 |
| 2025 | 21.36¢ | +3.3% | 25,672 |
How this compares
31.35¢
California average, 2025
−31.9%
City of Palo Alto vs CA 2025 average
+24.0%
vs US 2025 average
#20
priciest in CA
Serves 1 county in California: Santa Clara. 15 ZIP codes.
What the numbers show
Since 2015, City of Palo Alto's average residential rate has gone from 12.02¢ to 21.36¢ per kWh: +77.7% over 10 years, or about +5.9% a year. It rose in 9 of the 10 years we can compare, and the biggest one-year increase was +16.0% in 2023. The largest drop was −0.9% in 2021.
For a home using 494 kWh a month, the California average, City of Palo Alto's 2025 rate works out to about $1,266 a year, $592 less than at California's average rate of 31.35¢. Of the 32 California utilities in our data with a 2025 price, it is the 20th most expensive.
City of Palo Alto served 25,299 homes in 2015 and 25,672 in 2025 (+1.5%), under 1% of California's residential electricity customers.
Who sets City of Palo Alto's rates
City of Palo Alto is a municipal utility owned by the local government. The city council or a local utility board sets its rates, usually after a public meeting, and the California Public Utilities Commission generally does not.
Commission contact: California Public Utilities Commission. How we calculate every figure on this page: methodology.
Questions
Is City of Palo Alto raising rates in 2026?
City of Palo Alto's rates are set by the city council or a local utility board, not through a rate case at the California Public Utilities Commission, so check its own notices for a change this year. Its average residential rate moved +3.3% from 2024 to 2025.
What does City of Palo Alto charge per kWh?
City of Palo Alto's average effective residential rate was 21.36¢ per kWh in 2025 (EIA-861, revenue divided by sales, all charges included). California's 2025 average was 31.35¢.
How much have City of Palo Alto rates gone up in five years?
+30.5% between 2020 and 2025, against +49.4% for California as a whole over the latest five-year window.
How many customers does City of Palo Alto have in California?
25,672 residential customers in 2025, across 1 county including Santa Clara, according to the EIA-861 survey.
Where do these numbers come from?
Rates and customer counts are from the US Energy Information Administration's annual EIA-861 survey, which every US utility files. Nothing here is a utility bill; use it to understand the direction and size of changes.
Sources
- EIA-861 Sales to Ultimate Customers, 2015–2025 (released 2026-10-07)
- EIA-861M monthly state averages through Jul 2026
- NREL utility-by-ZIP lookup (2024)