The hottest days in coastal Southern California often arrive after Labor Day.
Downtown Los Angeles hit its all-time high of 113 degrees. The figure was recorded on September 27, 2010, according to LAist.
Additionally, the National Weather Service’s climate summary for San Diego’s Lindbergh Field notes a pattern. More than 60 percent of its 90-degree days occur in September and October. Dry easterly winds push heat to the coast. This context can help cool a home without a high electric bill.
This year fit the pattern.
FOX 11 reported extreme heat warnings across Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties in late August 2026.
Additionally, Voice of OC reported inland Orange County through September 12, with highs to 100 and overnight lows near 80.
Cooling season is not over. However, the question is how to get through October without paying more than you need to.
The 4 to 9 p.m. problem
In the region, every major utility charges the most for electricity in the early evening. Additionally, this occurs as air conditioners run hardest and solar output falls.
Southern California Edison’s standard TOU-D-4-9PM plan charges 58 cents per kilowatt-hour on summer weekdays from 4 to 9 p.m.
Additionally, it charges 34 cents the rest of the day, before a 10-cent baseline credit.
SCE’s summer pricing runs June through September.
On October 1, the summer on-peak price ends.
However, weekday 4 to 9 p.m. remains the priciest winter window at 51 mid-peak versus 37 off-peak.
The habit is worth keeping all fall.
San Diego Gas & Electric’s default TOU-DR1 plan peaks from 4 to 9 p.m. daily.
Additionally, this applies every day, including weekends.
Similarly, its summer season runs June 1 through October 31.
The rate table effective January 1, 2026 lists summer on-peak at 69.7 cents per kilowatt-hour and off-peak at 47.6 cents.
Super off-peak on weekdays covers midnight to 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
LADWP is different.
Its standard residential rate is tiered by usage, not by time.
Additionally, from June through September, the high season, all three tiers carry different prices.
Its optional time-of-use rate places the most expensive ‘high peak’ period at 1 to 4:59 p.m. on weekdays.
Additionally, LADWP’s rate page describes the structure without printing current per-kilowatt-hour prices, so check Schedule R-1 or your bill.
For SCE and SDG&E customers, cool a home without a high electric bill before the peak. Then run the air conditioner harder from roughly 1 to 4 p.m. Keep the blinds closed, raise the setpoint at 4, and let fans work. Additionally, push laundry, dishwashers, and EV charging past 9 p.m., or into the 10 a.m.–2 p.m. super off-peak block for SDG&E.
The fixed charge changed the electric bill math
Under a 2024 California Public Utilities Commission decision, SCE and SDG&E customers pay a Base Services Charge of about $24.
This includes about $6 for CARE customers and $12 for FERA customers.
SDG&E’s base charge took effect in October 2025, and SCE’s in November 2025.
In exchange, both utilities cut the per-kilowatt-hour price by roughly 10 percent.
That is about 5 cents on the delivery side, according to SDG&E.
That does not make cooling cheap.
However, it does mean each hour of air conditioning costs slightly less than in 2024.
Using almost nothing saves less.
Timing, not abstinence, is where the savings are.
LADWP customers are outside the CPUC decision; the city utility has its own fixed Power Access Charge.
What the Department of Energy actually says
Additionally, The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Saver guidance is conservative and specific. Additionally, A ceiling fan lets you raise the thermostat about 4 degrees with no loss in comfort. Moreover, Turn fans off when the room is empty; they cool people, not rooms. Additionally, A window fan works best exhausting hot air out the side of the home facing away from the breeze.
Lowering the thermostat 10 to 15 degrees for eight hours daily saves about 10 percent a year, per DOE. Additionally, LA County’s emergency office and Orange County both suggest an indoor setting of 75 to 80 degrees.
Window coverings do more than most people assume. Additionally, a DOE Building Technologies Office fact sheet shows cellular shades cut energy use by up to 15 percent. Closing whatever you have on the sun-facing side in the afternoon is free.
Rebates that are still open, and one that is not
The federal 25C tax credit, which paid up to $2,000 toward a heat pump and up to $1,200 for insulation and similar work, applies only to property placed in service before December 31, 2025, according to the IRS. There is no federal credit for a heat pump or window unit bought in 2026.
California’s TECH Clean California heat pump money is effectively gone too. The program’s reporting page says the federally funded HEEHRA single-family rebates were fully reserved statewide as of February 24, 2026, with Central and Southern California allocations full since January 7.
What is still open is smaller.
Golden State Rebates are run jointly by SCE, SDG&E, SoCalGas, and PG&E.
Additionally, they offer a $90 instant rebate on qualifying room air conditioners.
They offer up to $75 on smart thermostats at the register.
SCE’s Summer Discount Plan pays $40 to $160 per season.
Moreover, the period runs June 1 through September 30.
It rewards letting the utility cycle a central air conditioner during grid events.
Additionally, SCE lists a $75 bill credit for enrolling a smart thermostat in demand response.
LADWP’s Cool LA page lists a $100 smart thermostat rebate. It still shows 2024 deadlines and paper-only applications. Additionally, call before you buy. Moreover, SoCalGas rebates run through December 31, 2026, but the list is gas appliances, not cooling.
Renters: what the law does and does not require
California has no statewide maximum indoor temperature for rentals. State law sets a minimum for winter heat and nothing for the hot months, as Fresnoland reported in March 2026. SB 655, signed October 10, 2025, declares a state policy that dwellings should be able to hold a safe maximum temperature, but the 82-degree threshold was stripped in amendments and the law directs agencies, not landlords. AB 2616, an 82-degree bill from Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, had its first hearing canceled at the author’s request on April 7, 2026 and did not move.
Los Angeles County is the exception. The Board of Supervisors voted August 5, 2025 to require rental units in unincorporated county areas to be kept at or below 82 degrees, with compliance due in 2027 and landlords of 10 units or fewer given until January 1, 2032. It applies only to unincorporated communities, according to LA Public Press, so incorporated cities such as Los Angeles and Long Beach are not covered. The LA City Council voted in February 2026 to study a similar rule.
The ordinance’s one immediate protection is for tenants: the right to install their own blackout curtains or window air conditioner.
Anywhere in the region, the advice from tenant attorneys quoted by LA Public Press is to document a hot unit: keep a thermometer, log temperatures, and put requests in writing.
Where to go when the apartment loses
Every Long Beach Public Library branch, including Billie Jean King Main Library, is a standing cooling center during regular hours. The Long Beach Health Department opens additional sites when the heat index tops 95 degrees and posts them at longbeach.gov.
LA County residents can call 211 or use the map at ready.lacounty.gov. Orange County publishes a directory of libraries, senior centers and community centers, last updated August 25, 2026, at ocgov.com/cooling-centers.
The cheapest cooling in Southern California is still a library card and a bus ride. The second cheapest is running the air conditioner at 2 p.m. instead of 6.
Sources
- Southern California Edison: Time-Of-Use Residential Rate Plans
- Energized by Edison (SCE): CPUC Approves Fixed Charge: What it Means for You
- Southern California Edison: Base Service Charge
- San Diego Gas & Electric: Base Services Charge
- San Diego Gas & Electric: Schedule TOU-DR1 Total Rates Table effective 1/1/2026
- San Diego Gas & Electric: Pricing Plans
- San Diego Gas & Electric: How Rates Are Set
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power: Residential Electric Rates
- LA Office of Public Accountability: LADWP Residential Power Rates, A Short Guide
- U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Saver: Fans for Cooling
- U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Saver: Program Your Thermostat for Automatic Savings
- U.S. Department of Energy, Building Technologies Office: Cellular Shades Fact Sheet
- Internal Revenue Service: Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit
- TECH Clean California: Single Family Incentives / HEEHRA Rebates
- Southern California Edison: Summer Discount Plan
- Southern California Edison: Rebates & SCE Marketplace
- LADWP: Cool LA
- SoCalGas: Rebates and Incentives
- Fresnoland: California’s fight over apartment cooling standards heats up again (March 27, 2026)
- CalMatters Digital Democracy: AB 2616
- CalMatters Digital Democracy: SB 655
- CBS Los Angeles: LA County Supervisors pass indoor heat ordinance
- LA Public Press: What to know about LA’s future AC requirements for apartments (July 30, 2026)
- National Weather Service San Diego: Climate of San Diego narrative
- LAist: 113 Degrees! Today is Downtown LA’s Hottest Day on Record
- FOX 11 Los Angeles: Dangerous heat wave in Southern California (August 24, 2026)
- Voice of OC: Where to Stay Cool in Orange County Amid Extreme Heat (September 9, 2026)
- Long Beach Public Library: Cooling Centers
- City of Long Beach Health Department: Extreme Heat
- LA County Office of Emergency Management: Excessive Heat
- County of Orange: Cooling Centers
