Millions of Californians getting refunds on their electricity bills next month, up to $60 billion in savings starts next year

What you need to know: Millions of California families can expect automatic refunds averaging $61 on their electric bills in October – part of a credit that is planned to be supercharged next year thanks to historic legislation the Governor signed last week.

SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that more than 11.5 million California households will automatically see refunds on their October electric bill through the California Climate Credit. Thanks to historic legislation the Governor signed last week, those refunds are anticipated to increase starting next year with up to $60 billion going to the electric Climate Credit through 2045.

The state will provide total payments in October exceeding $700 million for electric residential customers and $60 million for qualifying small business customers. The average bill credit will be $61 per customer on electricity bills. Customers already received an identical electric credit earlier this year in April. With the April and October credits combined, most Californians are receiving an average of $198 in utility bill refunds this year.

“Millions of California families will see money back on their electricity bills in October – and that refund will be even bigger next year thanks to new laws I signed last week. Up to $60 billion will go back in your pockets, cutting your electric bills while we keep our historic momentum transitioning away from polluting fossil fuels.”

Governor Gavin Newsom

Since 2014, the state’s Cap-and-Invest program has delivered $14.6 billion in bill refunds back to residential utility customers. This year, California will provide a total of $2.4 billion in residential credits – $1.4 billion for electric customers, $1 billion for natural gas customers, and an additional $122 million for small businesses.

How it works

The refunds range from $35 to $259 on electric bills – with most households set to receive between $56 to $81 in October. Californians can check how much their refund will be here.

Californians do not need to do anything to get the refund . The California Climate Credit comes from the State’s Cap-and-Invest Program managed by the California Air Resources Board. The refund on electric bills represents the consumer’s share of payments from the State’s program.

In addition to electric bill refunds, California’s Cap-and-Invest program has funded $33 billion in climate investments creating more than 120,000 jobs and cutting millions of tons of carbon emissions. The investments include a wide range of solutions such as putting affordable housing near job centers, building the nation’s first high-speed rail, and adding zero-emission transportation options in underserved communities.

California’s climate leadership

Pollution is down and the economy is up. Greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 20% since 2000 – even as the state’s GDP increased 78% in that same time period all while becoming the world’s fourth largest economy.

The state also continues to set clean energy records. California was powered by two-thirds clean energy in 2023, the latest year for which data is available – the largest economy in the world to achieve this level of clean energy. The state has run on 100% clean electricity for some part of the day almost every day this year.

Since the beginning of the Newsom Administration, battery storage is up to over 15,000 megawatts – a 1,900%+ increase, and over 25,000 megawatts of new resources have been added to the electric grid.