Retail choice in California: community choice, not supplier shopping
California homes do not shop among competing suppliers. Choice comes through community choice aggregators (CCAs), electricity buyers formed by cities and counties that enroll every home in their area unless it opts out, while PG&E, SCE or SDG&E keeps delivering the power. EIA counted 25 CCAs with 5,526,517 residential customers in 2025, which put California's share of homes buying outside their utility 4th highest1 among the states.
West region, Pacific division
Who can choose, and what they choose
California's Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recognises two forms of retail choice, and only one of them reaches homes.
- Community Choice Aggregation. Cities, towns and counties, alone or through joint powers agencies, can become the default electricity provider for their area. The investor-owned utility continues to deliver the power over its lines. Customers can opt out and stay with, or return to, the utility.
- Direct Access. Customers buy electricity from a competitive Energy Service Provider. The CPUC states that Direct Access is available only to non-residential customers and that registration is limited by a load cap, with a lottery wait list run by each utility. New enrollment was suspended by law in 2001; laws passed in 2009 and 2018 reopened a limited, capped amount of non-residential load.
Both forms exist only inside the territories of the investor-owned utilities: PG&E, Southern California Edison and SDG&E. Homes served by a city utility or public power district, such as LADWP, SMUD or the Imperial Irrigation District, buy both power and delivery from that utility; LADWP and SMUD reported no delivery-only residential customers to EIA in 2025.
So in California the question "who is my provider?" is answered first by local government, not by the household. A household's own decision is whether to stay with the CCA its city or county chose or to opt out to the utility's bundled service.
How many homes buy from a CCA
EIA's annual census of utilities (form EIA-861) counts every organisation that sold electricity to California homes in 2025. It found 27 suppliers other than the utilities with residential customers; 25 of them were CCAs. Together they served 5,530,248 residential customers, and CCAs alone 5,526,517: almost all of the market. That made 42.1% of California's residential customers, against 15.1%1 nationally.
Only Massachusetts (63.6%), Ohio (58.1%) and Texas (55.5%1) had a higher share in 2025. California reaches its share without a residential supplier market: the count rises when a local government launches or expands a CCA and the homes in its area are enrolled automatically.
Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Residential customers of energy-only suppliers and community choice aggregators (plus Texas retail electric providers) as a share of all residential customers (EIA-861 2025, EIA customer counting: bundled + energy-only + Texas retail provider accounts). Includes municipal or community aggregation where it is reported as energy-only.
Show the numbers
| State | Customers with a supplier |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 63.6% |
| Ohio | 58.1% |
| Texas | 55.5% |
| California | 42.1% |
| New Hampshire | 40.8% |
| Rhode Island | 25.9% |
| Illinois | 22.5% |
| Pennsylvania | 22.4% |
| Connecticut | 16.3% |
| United States | 15.1% |
| District of Columbia | 10.3% |
| New York | 7.3% |
| Maine | 7.1% |
| New Jersey | 6.1% |
| Delaware | 5.6% |
| Maryland | 4.8% |
EIA counts customers as accounts (meters), not households.
PG&E, SCE and SDG&E: three different shares
How much of a utility's territory is in a CCA varies widely. In 2025:
- SDG&E delivered to 1,378,465 residential customers; 1,094,049 of them, 79.4%, bought their supply elsewhere, leaving 284,416 bundled customers.
- PG&E delivered to 5,055,556; 3,317,112, or 65.6%, bought supply elsewhere, and 1,738,444 stayed bundled.
- SCE delivered to 4,627,247; 1,365,070, or 29.5%, bought supply elsewhere, and 3,262,1771 stayed bundled.
In SDG&E's and PG&E's territories, then, a bundled customer is the exception. That matters for reading their published averages. The bundled residential averages for 2025, 45.77¢ per kWh at SDG&E, 37.52¢ per kWh at PG&E and 31.48¢ per kWh1 at SCE, describe only the customers who still buy power from the utility. The CPUC's rate comparison page lists the CCAs operating in each utility's area.
What each part of the bill averaged in 2025
EIA splits a choice state's residential market into three groups of customers, each paying for a different part of the service. The figures are average revenue per kWh: what each group paid in total, divided by the kWh it used. They are not tariffs, and they are not three pieces of one bill.
Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh by service part, EIA-861 2025. Supply-only and delivery-only averages each cover only part of a bill and different groups of customers; adding them gives only a rough estimate of what a shopping customer paid in total.
Show the numbers
| Part of the market | ¢/kWh |
|---|---|
| Utility full-service customers (default service): supply and delivery | 28.46¢ |
| Competitive suppliers and CCAs: supply only | 14.48¢ |
| Utility delivery for customers of a supplier: delivery only | 23.44¢ |
- Full-service customers of all California utilities, including the city utilities and public power districts that have no CCAs, paid 28.46¢ per kWh for supply and delivery together in 2025.
- CCA and supplier customers paid those suppliers 14.48¢ per kWh for the electricity alone.
- The same customers' utilities billed them 23.44¢ per kWh1 for delivery and the other charges the utility collects.
The full-service group mixes investor-owned and public utilities, while the other two groups live only in investor-owned territories, so the gap between the first figure and the other two is not a measure of what a CCA customer saves or loses. Each of the last two covers only part of a bill, and they should not be added together.
Delivery charges by utility
What the utility billed its delivery-only homes differs by territory. In 2025, SDG&E's averaged 27.33¢ per kWh, PG&E's 24.60¢ per kWh and SCE's 19.19¢ per kWh. From 2024 to 2025 SCE's figure changed by +7.2% from 17.90¢ per kWh2, while PG&E's changed −4.5% and SDG&E's −2.8%1.
Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Delivery charges only: what the utility billed customers who buy supply elsewhere, divided by their kWh. Not comparable with bundled prices.
Show the numbers
| Utility | delivery-only revenue per kWh (residential) |
|---|---|
| Southern California Edison (CA) | 19.19¢ |
| PG&E (CA) | 24.60¢ |
| SDG&E (CA) | 27.33¢ |
Per month, the utility's part came to $92.25 at PG&E for 375 kWh of use, $87.14 at SCE for 454 kWh and $75.80 at SDG&E for 277 kWh1. The CCA's generation charge comes on top of each of these amounts.
How CCA service works for a household
The CPUC's consumer questions and answers on CCAs set out the rules:
- Enrollment is automatic. State law enrolls customers inside a CCA's member cities or counties unless they opt out. Customers receive at least two notices in the 60 days before service starts.
- There is one bill. The utility issues a consolidated bill with both its own charges and the CCA's; CCAs do not bill customers directly.
- Leaving has rules. Customers can opt out before their account switches, from a window that opens at least 60 days ahead, or at any time afterwards. An opt-out takes effect at the end of the current billing cycle, and the customer returns to bundled service at the next scheduled meter read. After the first 60 days of CCA service, the utility or the CCA may attach charges or conditions to an opt-out, and a customer who leaves then must stay on bundled service for one year before rejoining the CCA.
- The utility still delivers. It manages transmission, distribution and delivery, and its CARE discounts, medical baseline, balanced payment plans, net metering for rooftop solar and energy-efficiency rebates remain available to CCA customers. Programs run by the CCA itself may differ.
CCA customers also pay the utility a Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA). The CPUC uses it so that customers who leave bundled service pay for, or benefit from, the value of the power contracts and plants the utility had already committed to. When the value is positive it is a charge; when it is negative, a credit. Medical baseline customers are exempt.
How to compare a CCA with the utility
Each utility and CCA must prepare a Joint Rate Comparison showing how their rates compare; it goes to the customers a CCA is about to enroll and is posted on both organisations' websites. The CPUC also runs an electric rate comparison website where you enter a ZIP code, city or county and see the residential, CARE and electric vehicle rates the utility and the local CCA offer.
When comparing, keep the same rate plan on both sides (tiered or time-of-use) and look at the whole bill: a CCA customer pays the CCA's generation charge plus the utility's delivery charges and the PCIA, while a bundled customer pays the utility for everything. The EIA averages on this page are statewide and past; they describe what groups of customers paid in 2025, not what any CCA or utility charges today. This page does not list CCA rates.
California prices behind the choice
Whatever their supplier, California homes pay among the highest prices in the country. Across all utilities and suppliers, residential customers paid an average of 32.34¢ per kWh over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026), 2nd highest among the 50 states and DC and 79.3% above the US average. In August 2026 the average was 29.75¢ per kWh, −3.8%3 against the same month a year earlier (preliminary). Read that month with the CPUC's decision to move the residential Climate Credit for PG&E, SCE and SDG&E customers to August and September in mind: a bill credit lowers what customers pay in the month it lands, so the 12-month figure is the steadier guide.
The California state page covers prices by utility, bills and the reasons for the state's high rates; the regulated vs deregulated guide compares California's hybrid model with the supplier markets of other states. Income-qualified households can apply for the CPUC's CARE and FERA discounts.
California electricity choice questions
Is California electricity deregulated?
Only in part. Homes cannot pick an independent retail supplier: Direct Access, California's supplier program, is open only to non-residential customers within a statewide cap, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. Where a city or county has formed a community choice aggregator, it becomes the default supplier and the utility delivers the power. Homes served by city utilities and public power districts such as LADWP and SMUD buy from that utility.
Can I choose my electricity provider in California?
Your choice is usually between two options: the community choice aggregator that serves your city or county, if there is one, and bundled service from PG&E, SCE or SDG&E. You can opt out of the CCA and return to the utility; the CPUC's rules on timing apply. In 2025, 42.1%1 of California's residential customers bought their supply from a CCA or another supplier (EIA-861).
Is a CCA cheaper than PG&E, SCE or SDG&E?
It depends on the CCA, the rate plan and the year, and EIA does not publish a like-for-like comparison. Each utility and CCA must prepare a Joint Rate Comparison, and the CPUC runs an electric rate comparison website by ZIP code. In 2025, CCA and supplier customers statewide paid an average of 14.48¢ per kWh1 for supply alone, a figure that leaves out the utility's delivery charges.
Related pages
Sources
- EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final; table Sales_Ult_Cust_2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
- EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2024 final; table Sales_Ult_Cust_2024; 2024, final (file updated December 3, 2025); released December 3, 2025. www.eia.gov
- EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state; table sales_revenue.xlsx (EPM Table 5.6.A); January 2001 to 2026-08; months since January 2026 preliminary; released October 23, 2026. www.eia.gov
How every figure is built: methodology. Found an error? Write to [email protected]; corrections are listed on the updates page.