Bill credits usually arrive when they are least useful. California has been sending its residential climate credit in April and October for years — pleasant months, modest bills, money that disappeared into a statement nobody scrutinized. Starting this month, it lands in the two months when the air conditioning runs hardest.
What changed, and what each utility pays
The California Public Utilities Commission approved the change in a Phase 1A decision on April 30, 2026, in docket R.25-07-013. Residential electric credits for the state’s three largest investor-owned utilities move from April and October to August and September, delivered in both months rather than split across the year.
The 2026 amounts, per month, from the commission’s published schedule:
- SDG&E — $49.36 in August and $49.36 in September, totaling $98.72
- PG&E — $36.18 twice, totaling $72.36
- SCE — $36.00 twice, totaling $72.00
The credit is applied automatically. There is no application, no income test, no form, and no way to be missed if the account is residential and with one of these utilities. It appears as a line item reducing the amount due.
Where the money comes from
The credit is not a subsidy funded by other ratepayers or by the general fund. It is a rebate of money collected from large greenhouse gas emitters under California’s Cap-and-Invest Program, which requires companies emitting above a threshold to buy allowances at auction. A portion of that auction revenue is returned directly to residential utility customers.
That structure explains the flat amounts. Every residential customer of a given utility receives the same credit regardless of how much electricity they use or what they earn — it is a per-household dividend, not a usage-based discount. A household that uses very little power receives the same $36 or $49 as its neighbor running three air conditioners…