2026-2027 proposed rate changes
Overview
SMUD’s Chief Executive Officer & General Manager’s Report and Recommendation on Rates and Services proposes changes to SMUD’s rates, including:
- Increase in rates in 2026 and 2027 for residential and non-residential customers.
- An optional rate for residential customers who don’t use much energy and have a panel size less than or equal to 125 amps.
- This optional rate would be called the Time-of-Day (Low Use) Rate.
- The proposed rate has the same structure as the standard Time-of-Day (5-8 p.m.) Rate but a lower monthly System Infrastructure Fixed Charge ($17) and higher energy charges.
- This rate was designed for a small group of residential customers who have low energy usage and a smaller panel size.
- Updates to transmission rates and other miscellaneous rate updates.
Customer resources
Proposed rate changes
Changes for 2026 and 2027
Rate increase
The proposal includes the two rate increases for all customers:
- 3% effective Jan. 1, 2026
- 3% effective Jan. 1, 2027
SMUD is committed to keeping rate increases within inflation through 2030.
How will this impact my bill?
The increases will impact all customers differently, depending on how much electricity is used each month.
For the average residential customer, the rate increases would add:
- $4.35 per month beginning Jan. 1, 2026
- $4.48 per month beginning Jan. 1, 2027
As an example, a small business customer will see a cumulative increase of about $209 per month after the 2 years.
As your community-owned, not-for-profit electric utility, our rates are among the lowest in California. If the proposed rate increases are approved, they'll continue to be about 50% lower than those of neighboring PG&E.
Why rate changes are needed
We work hard to control costs and operate as efficiently as possible. The need for the rate increases is due to several factors, including:
 Reliability Infrastructure & reliability improvements |
 Compliance to meet state requirements |
 Vegetation management, wildfire insurance & outage response |
 Inflation and supply chain pressures |
Opportunity for your input
Members of the public can ask questions and provide feedback about the proposed rate changes. You can attend our public workshops and hearing or provide public comment to the proposed changes via email or mail.
All meetings will be conducted in a hybrid format via Zoom and at SMUD Headquarters Auditorium, 6201 S Street, Sacramento.
Public comment
Written comments can be submitted by email to ContactUs@smud.org or by mail to:
SMUD
P.O. Box 15830, MS B256
Sacramento, CA 95852-0830
Public workshops
Wednesday, April 30 at 5:30 PM
Tuesday, May 13 at 10 AM
For in-person attendees who would like to make a verbal public comment (3-minute limit), please email PublicComment@smud.org to get in the queue the day of the event.
Public hearing
Wednesday, June 4 at 6 PM
The SMUD Board of Directors will vote on the proposed rate change during its June meeting, Thursday, June 19 at 6 PM.
Additional proposed changes
Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT)
An update in prices for third parties who wish to use the SMUD grid to transmit energy through SMUD territory.
Other items
Minor language updates for clarity and consistency.