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No Climate Credit this October? Why it moved to August and September

In 2026, PG&E, SCE and SDG&E paid the electric Climate Credit on August and September bills, so October bills will not show one.

By Written with AI2 min read

If you have been watching for the October Climate Credit on your PG&E, SCE or SDG&E bill, it is not coming this month. You already received it. On April 30, 2026, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) moved the electric credit for those three utilities to August and September, the months when air conditioning pushes bills highest. For years before that, the credit showed up in April and October.

The Climate Credit is your household's share of money California collects from polluters under its cap-and-trade program. Residential customers of the big utilities and of Community Choice Aggregators (local power providers such as many city and county clean energy programs) get it automatically.

Here are the 2026 electric amounts the CPUC lists, paid once in August and once in September:

PG&E: $36.18 a month, or $72.36 for the year. SCE: $36.00 a month, or $72.00 for the year. SDG&E: $49.36 a month, or $98.72 for the year.

For example, a PG&E household whose summer bill came to $250 would have seen about $214 due after the credit in each of those two months. The amount is the same for every residential customer of a given utility, whatever you use.

Gas customers have a change coming too. The natural gas Climate Credit, which arrived in April this year (PG&E gas customers saw $46.26, SoCalGas customers $36.06), moves to February starting in 2027, when heating pushes gas bills up.

Customers of smaller utilities, such as Bear Valley Electric, Liberty and Pacific Power, are on a different schedule. Check the CPUC page for yours.

Why this matters for budgeting: if you were counting on a credit to soften a fall bill, plan without it. Your next electric Climate Credit from PG&E, SCE or SDG&E will follow the new summer schedule, and the CPUC sets the amount each year.

Your next step today: open your August or September bill online and search the bill detail for "Climate Credit" to confirm it posted. If you cannot find it, call the customer service number printed on your bill and ask them to point to the line.

Sources

Facts were checked against these sources when the post was written. Details can change, so check them for the latest.

your billclimate creditpg&escesdg&e

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Tineessa Nelson

Tineessa Nelson runs EveryHour. The posts are written with AI, using topics researched each day, and she is responsible for what the site publishes. She is based in California.